


Irish Lovin

by douchecasters



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-03
Updated: 2014-02-03
Packaged: 2018-01-11 00:21:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 22
Words: 37,716
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1166363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/douchecasters/pseuds/douchecasters
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Summary: Louis' best friend Lauren has always had an eye for Niall and Niall's always had an eye for Lauren but neither of them know and when they find out it's a cliche journey all the way through.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I thought about getting rid of this writing a lot time ago because it's really carroty and too cliche but it is my first one and it has a lot of memories so i'm choosing to try and take pride in it

I was slowly drifting out of my slumber and back to reality. It was late morning and I could hear the sound of Niall’s beating heart, as my head lay on his firm chest. He was twirling little strands of my hair ever so lightly so he wouldn’t wake me. I let out a soft sigh. I felt his chin slightly shift from one side of my head to the other.

“Good morning, darling.”

I look up at him to see his breath-taking smile look down at me. His ocean blue eyes instantly make contact with mine, and I’m cast under his spell. I smile at him and return the greeting. Last night was the best thing that happened to me in a long time.

I was over at the boys’ flat for a small party. Louis, being my best mate, invited me to come for some drinks. After a few hours, most of us were drunk, if not tipsy. The only ones who had not been drinking were Niall and I. I was quite surprised that he was sober by the end of the night. In the end, he had offered me a ride home. 

“I’m surprised you’re sober and not slurring your words right now,” I say with a laugh as soon as we were safely in the car.

“Well, I had made a bet for 100 pounds that I would be completely sober by the end of the night.”

As he drove me home, we talked about the highlights of the night. I had always felt comfortable with Niall. He always had a way to make someone feel welcome.

When we arrived at my flat, he walked me up to the door and I invited him in for a drink.

“As long as you don’t tell Louis,” he said with his cheeky grin.

We grabbed a couple beers and sat on the floor of the living room. He popped “The Notebook” into the telly and took a seat next to me. He put his arm around me, which wasn’t a big deal. During the movie I slowly started to drift off. He shook me lightly when the movie ended.

“Come on, Lauren. Let’s get you to bed.” He escorted me to my room and was saying goodnight. He pulled me into a hug and was holding me tightly. He pulled himself away but I was still in his grip, and he was looking at me with a soft expression on his face. After a few seconds of eye contact, began leaning in inch by inch until he was less than an inch from my face.

“Niall-” But before I could finish my sentence he quickly pushed me away.

“I’m so sorry. That was out of line.” By now he was sitting in my desk chair with his elbows on his knees and his face buried in his hands.

“It’s fine, Niall. Don’t worry about it.” There were a few minutes of silence. I was watched him slightly shake his head in-between his hands. He was murmuring something to himself, but I couldn’t make out what it was.

“I should go.” He got up but I quickly grabbed his arm. He looked at me and he could see the slight curiosity in my eyes. He grabbed me by the forearm and guided me towards the bed. He took a seat down next to me and sat for several minutes in silence. He seemed reluctant and nervous to speak. He was still grasping my arm. I gently slid my hand down his arm and intertwined my fingers in his.

“Niall, what’s wrong? What is it?”

He looked up at me and look confused, like he had thought I knew the answer to my own question.

“Lauren, I’ve known you for about two years now, right?”

I had to think a moment. “Yes.”

He took a deep, nervous sigh before he spoke. “When Louis first brought you to our flat to introduce you, I thought you were beautiful. When you first spoke to me, your voice was soft and quiet, yet I felt blown away by how your simple ‘Hello’ had hit me. Here you were, I had just met you, and you had taken my breath away. I remember the first time you smiled at me. In fact, I remember almost every one of the smiles you had flashed me. Each time, you sent shivers down my spine. The first time you had hugged me, I felt like everything was perfect. All of my troubles, all of my stress, it disappears when I hug you.” The entire time he’d been speaking, he didn’t look at me once until at that moment. He had looked up at me to like he was checking if I was paying attention. I slowly nodded as a cue for him to continue. He looked back down at his lap again.

“I love your soft, curly brown hair. I love how it bounces when I tug on it.” He laughed a bit when he made that remark. “I love the smell of the perfume you wear. I love the way you laugh. I love that when you hug me, you snuggle your head underneath my chin. I love the way you look when you’re sleeping. I love how your eyes aren’t exactly blue or green but a little of both. I love how you bite your lip when you’re nervous. I love when you hide your hands in the sleeves of your sweatshirts. Lauren,” This time he looked up at me. He looked deep into my eyes. It was as if he was staring into the very core of my soul.

“Lauren, I love you.”

I looked at him for what felt like the longest time. No words were spoken. Not aloud. But through his eyes, he was pleading to me. He was begging for me to say something.

I finally found something to say, although I couldn’t quite get them out.

“H-how long h-have you-”

“-Does it matter? I’m not quite sure how long I have loved you, but I know I do now.”

“Why haven’t you said anything about it before?”

He jumped off the bed. He seemed a little angry, but he was just tense. He was pacing back and forth.

“I couldn’t say anything! Louis would demolish me. He’s very protective of you! If I told him, he would tell you. You wouldn’t want to see me because you felt differently! I would rather you never know! But now,” a tear fell from his face. He lowered his voice to an almost inaudible whisper.

“Now, I’ve gone and ruined it. I lost you. I’ve probably lost Louis I-”

He was cut off by me gripping onto his arm I pulled him into a hug and he was holding me as tight as he had ever held me.

“Shh shh. Calm down. It’s alright. It’s fine.” I whispered into his ear.

“I pulled my face back to look at him. His fallen tears had stained his cheeks. He brushed a strand of hair away from my face. He inched himself closer, but this time he didn’t pull away. He kissed me gently at first, making sure it would be okay. He pulled away slowly and looked at me. I smiled a small smile and nodded gently. He pulled me closer and kissed me with more passion this time, and I returned. I bit his lip, which seemed to trigger a sweet spot. I guided both of us back towards the bed, and he had laid down first. I was on top of him kissing him.

“Not tonight,” he managed to get out in between breaths. I agreed, but continued to kiss him softly. Soon, he shifted me to the side and we lay on our sides, facing each other. We stared at one another and smiled. Neither of us spoke, and soon I drifted off into a deep slumber.


	2. Chapter Two

“Good morning, darling,” Niall says to me with a cheeky grin on his face. I smile back at him and turn my body around so I could be facing him. He looked straight into my eyes for the longest time. He was stroking my cheek with his index finger.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispers to me. He has the cutest grin on his face. I wasn’t sure how to answer him, so I just flashed him another smile. He took my head in-between both of his hands and kissed me on the forehead. Then he ran his lips down to the side of my neck. He kissed it very softly, and that drove me crazy. He knew it too. I lifted his head and kissed his soft lips. I playfully bit his bottom lip. I knew that would drive him insane. I giggled and he couldn’t help but giggle himself. He began to get out of bed, but I stopped him.

“Where are you going?” I tried to say it in a pouty way so maybe he would stay.

“I have to get ready to go. Louis is going to be here soon with your car that you left at our flat last night.”

I reluctantly let his arm go and got up to get dressed myself. I hopped into the shower while Niall began to make breakfast. After my shower, I headed over to the kitchen to find that Niall had prepared scrambled eggs, some strawberries, and has browns. He had made a lot of hash browns.

When he sees me, he smiles, but he doesn’t look sincere. I wrapped my arms around his neck. I kissed him, but he didn’t quite return it.

“Niall?” he looked at me in an odd way: almost mad, or maybe pity.

“Niall, what’s wrong?”

He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close, but he was still looking into my eyes. I love when he does that. I’m put under some sort of magical spell when he does that.

“Lauren, what are we doing?” I was confused by his question, but he seemed pretty tense.

“Well, I believe were hugging,” I said with a smile to try to lighten the mood. He smiled a bit, but I can tell it didn’t make him feel any better.

“I mean, what are we doing? What is this?” He was questioning the relationship we had. I wasn’t quite sure either, but I knew what I wanted it to be.

“Well,” I said, “what do you want it to be?”

“You can’t figure that out based on what I said last night?” he asked rhetorically. We sat in silence for a moment, but he spoke again. “Is this what you want? I mean er Lauren?”

I knew his question. It was adorable the way he was nervous. I had a huge smile on my face.

“Niall, I would absolutely love to be your girlfriend.” I said ecstatically. He sighed a sigh of relief and pulled me in for a hug. He gripped me tightly and pulled me back for a kiss. He has the softest lips. He couldn’t help from smiling when we kissed, and neither could I. just then his phone went off. It was a text from Louis. Be there in five. Niall quickly let go of me. He started pacing for a moment, but he noticed I was staring at him.

He sat down on the couch and I followed. He said, “I want to be able to tell Louis about us in my own way. Of course I want you to be there, but I’m not sure how to tell him and I don’t know when I could.”

I sighed. I completely forgot about what Louis would say. “Don’t you think if we told Louis now, it would be so much better? There wouldn’t be any lies or secrecy. I wouldn’t have to sneak around all the time just to see you. Niall, if he knows that we love each other-” Niall jerked his head up. He looked shocked. “You love me?” he asked. I realized I hadn’t said it yet, and now I felt awful. He’s probably been on edge this whole time waiting for me to return his love. I took his hand in mind and rested them on his knee. I smiled at him and he just stared at me blankly.

“I love you Niall,” I said with the biggest grin on my face. He sighed another sigh of relief and kissed me again. “I love you too, my love.” I adored the way he said “love” in his accent. He was so perfectly Irish, that it made me love him even more. We heard a car door. It was Louis. Niall jumped up but I still grasped his hand. He looked at me and gave me a nervous nod, telling me it was okay to tell Louis. I stood up and clenched on to Niall’s hand. I had suddenly become more anxious than Niall. He looked at me but I nodded so he wouldn’t know I was nervous. He turned back facing the direction of the door. He ruffled his shaggy, light blonde hair. His eyelids fluttered in anxiety. He was nervous. We both were. We waited in silence. There was a knock at the door.

“Come in, Louis,” I said loud enough so he could hear me. We heard the turn of the knob on the door. From where we were, we couldn’t see the door or Louis, and he couldn’t see us. I felt Niall’s hand grip mine harder. My heart was beating out of my chest.

“I smell eggs…and hash browns!” Louis yelled in happily throughout the flat. I heard him walk into the kitchen and grab a plate. He took a seat at the table and was stuffing his mouth.

“Where are you guys?” he shouted. He was almost incomprehensible with all the food In his mouth.

“The living room,” I said. I heard him scoot his chair back. He came walking towards us. I could hear his footsteps getting closer and closer. Finally, we saw his shadow followed by him seconds later.

“Niall, I should have known you were going to be making hash browns,” he said as he was entering the living room. Niall and I sat there in silence. We both stared at him waiting for a reaction. When he first saw us, Louis smiled. But in less than a second, his smile was wiped off his face. He was now staring at my hand. He was staring at Niall’s hand. He stared at the two hands whose fingers were intertwined with each other. He looked up. His mouth was wide open, and he didn’t say a word.


	3. Chapter 3

Louis was staring at us. He was speechless. I can hear Niall breathing in and out loudly. He’s gripping my hand as tight as ever. I can tell that both of them weren’t able to speak. So I decided I should.

“Louis,” I began. “I know that this may be a bit of a shock and-”

“-Lauren I need to speak to Niall alone,” Louis said harshly. I thought about leaving but I scooted myself closer to Niall. Louis gave me a stern look, and I felt Niall’s hand loosen up its grip and a very slight nudge pushed on my arm by his index fingers. I still refused and took hold of Niall’s hand once again. I heard him gulp. I’ve never seen either of them like this. Louis was angry: very angry for a matter of fact. Louis was never angry. He was always the one trying to lighten the mood. This was a side of him I had never seen.

“Lauren, it’s alright. Go. I’ll be fine.” Niall was trying to reassure me, but it wasn’t working. Still, I went as Niall had asked. Before his hand left mine, Niall squeezed my hand. I walked past Louis. “Don’t do anything stupid, Louis,” I whispered as I walked by. I heard him sigh and I took it as a good sign. I went and sat in the bedroom, waiting quietly. It was really quiet for the longest time. I could feel the tension, and I wasn’t even in the room. Niall was the first to break the silence.

“Louis, I know what you’re thinking. But-”

“I had you drive her home after a party. All you had to do was drive. Now, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL IS THIS ABOUT? SHE MY BEST FRIEND GOD DAMN IT! SHE’S LIKE MY SISTER! YOU DATING HER IS DISGUSTING AND JUST PLAIN WRONG! HOW COULD YOU FUCKING DO THIS TO ME, MATE?”

Niall spoke so softly, I could barely hear him. “Louis, I love her. I really love her. We love each other. I’ve never felt this way. She’s different. Louis, I haven’t felt this great, this alive, since…” he sniffled. Since what? I heard someone sigh.

“I don’t want you to play her. If you two break up…”

“I know I have thought about that before. But, I don’t want to think that way. I shouldn’t. I couldn’t. Louis, I want your approval. I want to make sure it’s alright.”

“I want to talk to her first.” I quietly rushed away from the door. I sat on the bed and popped in headphones so it looked as though I wasn’t listening.

“Lauren, I know you were listening take off your headphones,” Louis said as soon as he closed the door behind him. I should have known. Louis knows me better than anyone. I didn’t know what to say so I just said, “Sorry.”

“How did this even happen? You know, with you and Niall.”

I told Louis all about last night. I told him all of the beautiful words Niall had said to me. I explained to Louis that the last thing Niall wanted to do was hurt him. I explained that Niall made me feel special again. I talked for about an hour with Louis listening the entire time. I wasn’t sure about Niall. Every once in a while I heard him sniffle outside the door. I hated the sound of him crying.

When I was done talking, Louis was staring at the floor. “I’m such a dick wad,” is what he finally said. I smiled a bit and scooted myself closer to him. “It’s alright, Louis.”

He put his arm around me. “I had no idea…”

“I know, Louis. It’s fine. But Niall isn’t going to go through with this without your approval. He really respects you and values your opinion,” I looked at him and he saw the pain in my eyes.

“It’ll be fine, Louis. I promise. Please?” I had to beg him.

He stood up and motioned me to do the same. Once I was standing, he pulled me into a hug.

“If he ever hurts you, don’t be afraid to tell me. I will wail on that bastard’s ass,” he whispered. I laughed but hit him on his shoulder. He laughed too. We headed out into the kitchen.

When Niall noticed us he quickly wiped the tears from his eyes. He stood across the room from Louis and me, waiting for a reaction.

“Well for god sake, Lauren, go give the damn boy a hug!” Louis shouted happily. We all smiled and all of the tension was gone. I hurried over to Niall and wrapped my arms around his neck. He was smiling his beautiful smile as he wrapped his arms around my waist. He kissed my lips quickly and rested his forehead against mine. His ocean blue eyes were looking straight into mine. He was still smiling.

“Ahem! If you’re going to do this, get a room!” Louis shouted at us jokingly.

Niall apologized and shook Louis’s hand to thank him.

“What the hell is that, mate? Give me a hug!” Louis pulled Niall into a hug and I couldn’t help but laugh.

We all went and reheated the food for breakfast. After breakfast, we all headed over to the boys’ flat. It was time to tell everyone else.

——————————

When we arrived at the flat, Louis walked in first. He took a seat in between Harry and Zayn on the couch. Niall stepped into the door and then me. He had the boys pause their video game.

“This better be pretty important, Horan,” Harry said with a smirk.

I was standing behind the couch where Louis, Harry, and Zayn were perched. Liam sat on the chair a little ways from the couch. Niall stepped in front of the telly to make his announcement.

“I figured you all should know, mates. Lauren?” he smiled and motioned me to come take my stand beside him. He took my hand and kissed my forehead.

“Mates, Lauren and I are in love,” he said cheekily. I thought it was a bit presumptuous but I didn’t want to fight with him and it didn’t bug me that much. He sensed what I was thinking and whispered “Sorry, love” soft enough that only I could hear. I kissed his cheek to show it was fine.

“Wow. One night over there and you have her wrapped around your finger,” Harry remarked.

“In one minute I could have you wrapped around my fist, Styles,” Niall said hoarsely. I knew he was joking but he was upset by Harry’s comment.

“Well I, for one think it’s wonderful,” Liam said standing up. He gave me a hug and high fived Niall. I always thought Liam was sweet. I thought he was great and felt bad that he wasn’t always the favorite of the fans. I thought he was sweet. Niall and I took a seat on the couch and the boys continued their game.

“Are you feeling up for a nap?” Niall whispers to me. I nodded and he picked me up and carried me to his room. I fell asleep in his arms as he rocked me singing “Little Things”. It was my favorite song of theirs.


	4. Chapter 4

I woke midafternoon around four. Niall still rested peacefully with one arm under my head and his other still holding my hand. I lifted my head slowly, making sure not to wake him. he looked so peaceful while he was sleeping. His light blonde hair was jumbled up but he still looked angelic like. He was wearing red plaid pajama pants with a grey t-shirt. He had a smile on his face. I was blown away by his radiance. I slowly got up off the bed to not wake him.

“You’re sneaking out after sleeping with me?” he chuckled with a grin on his face. I had woken him.

“I didn’t want to wake you I said turning towards him. He took my hands in his and pleaded that I stay. “I have to go.” I whined. He looked disappointed but let go of my hands.

“You can go, but on one condition. You have to let me cook for you tonight.”

“Hmm, okay. What time were you planning on coming over?”

“Actually, I wanted you to come here.” I looked towards the direction in which the boys were at in the house. “Zayn and Liam are going out for a party at Perrie’s tonight. Louis is going to see Eleanor and Harry is going to see Janey. I was going to go with Zayn and Liam, but I don’t know if we would ever have this house to ourselves for a while. I’d much rather be here with you. Please? Can you come?” he gave me a puppy dog face. I couldn’t turn him down.

“Yes, I’ll come,” I sighed with a smile. His face lit up and he pulled me onto the bed. I tried to get back up but he tried to pin me down. We both wrestled each other on the bed. He finally had me pinned and he began laughing uncontrollably. I couldn’t help but laugh either. I loved his laugh. It was contagious. He leaned down for a long kiss. He finally let me go. I waved bye to the boys as I walked out the door. I called for a cab to head home.

When I got home, it was about 4:45pm. As I walked into my bedroom, I felt my phone vibrate. It was Niall.

Wear something fancy tonight, darling. I want this night to be as classy as possible I will be over there to pick you up around 5:45. Love you.

-Niall

I was suddenly nervous. This was my first date with him: the first official date. I rushed to the closet to find something to wear. I was never the kind of dressy person, so this was difficult. I finally decided on a short red dress, black heels, a silver sequined handbag, and some “diamond” earrings. (Lauren’s outfit: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=67598567) I go to take another shower to clean myself up, even though I had taken one earlier that day. I freshen up and make sure I’m perfectly clean. I get out of the shower and began to blow dry and curl my hair. As I was setting my earrings into place, the doorbell rang. I look over at the clock: 5:42. I grabbed a dress coat from hall closet and walked to the door. When I opened it, Niall stood there in a black suit and black tie. He was holding a bouquet of red roses. He gelled his hair into a quiff. He was smiling his dazzling smile and his ocean blue eyes were wide. He seemed happy, but I could see he was nervous. He had a little sweat on the hairline above his forehead. When he saw me, his jaw dropped. He stood there with his mouth gaped open. He didn’t say anything for a minute.

“What’s wrong?” I said finally. I couldn’t handle the silence. He realized he was spacing off and apologized. “I’m sorry. You just look so stunning.” I felt the heat rush to my cheeks. He didn’t seem to notice or care. He handed me the roses with his smile. He took my hand and walked me down the steps. Once off the stairs, he put one arm around me waist. He escorted me to the car. On the drive there, we mostly talked about each other. He told me about his family and why he wanted to be a singer. I told him about my family as well, but I didn’t have that much else to talk about. We arrived at the boys’ flat in what seemed like two minutes. He quickly got out of the car. He rushed to my passenger door to open it. He was so gentlemen like.

He didn’t tell me what he was prepared for dinner. When I walked into the kitchen, he had created the perfect scene. The lights had been dimmed. There was a silk red table cloth on the table. He had three tall cream colored candles burning in the middle of the table. There was a vase with nothing but water in it; I’m assuming it was for my roses. He had two silver platters with silver tops over them, just like in the corny love movies. But, I thought it was cute. There was a bottle of red wine in a tin bucket filled with ice on the counter near the table along with two empty wine glasses. My eyes were wide. I couldn’t believe he had gone through all of this. I didn’t realize he had been watching me observe the room.

“You hate it,” he said shaking his head. “I’m sorry. Does it seem too corny? I just wanted it to be perfect.” He was so disappointed. I put my hand on his shoulder. He was staring at the floor in sorrow. “Look at me,” I told him. He looked up. He gave me gazed into my eyes like he did. “Everything is perfect. I don’t hate it. I love it.” He smiled a bit but it was gone in a second.

“Are you sure? I can fix it if you want. I wasn’t sure if-”

“-It’s perfect,” I reassured him. He smiled a full smile this time and walked me to the table. He pulled out a chair for me to sit in. I sat down and he pushed the chair back in. he grabbed the glasses and the bottle of wine. He set the glasses on the table. When he opened the bottle, the cork went flying across the room. I giggled and he looked embarrassed. I grabbed his hand as another reassurance that everything was perfect. He poured the wine and set the bottle on the counter.

“Bon Appètit,” he said as he pulled off the tops to the silver platters. He revealed a plate of spaghetti and meatballs covered in marinara sauce. On the side was a slice of French white bread with butter spread upon it. “I know it’s not much. I’m not really a chef but Louis told me it was your favorite,” he said.

“It is. It all looks wonderful, Niall.” He seemed satisfied with my answer and took a seat across from me. We ate the meal, which was delicious, and I offered to help clean it up. “No way,” he said, “you just sit down and relax. I’ll take care of everything.” He tapped my nose a he said it. I smiled and took a seat on the couch. He finished quite quickly and entered the living room. He pulled a CD off of one of the shelves. He popped into the stereo and pressed play. It was a Cd of classical music. It was beautiful music. He strolled over to me and stood In front of me. he held his hand out as an request do dance. I grinned and took his hand. He walked me to the center of the room. “I have something for you,” he told me.

“More surprises?” I asked. He smiled but ignored my question.

“Close your eyes.” I closed my eyes. After a few moments, I felt a something cold on my chest. He had put a necklace around my neck. “Okay, open them.” I opened my eyes to find a silver four leaf clover on a silver chain. There was a small diamond in the middle of the clover as well as on the stem. I looked at him shocked. This must have cost a fortune.

“Do you like it?”

“Niall, it’s gorgeous. It must have cost a lot.”

“Not for me. I’m a ‘teen sensation’ remember?” he said with a sly grin.

I examined it a while longer when he spoke again. “It’s a reminder of me. I was going to get a heart, but it seemed to original for someone so unique. I saw this necklace in its case and knew it was the one.” I kissed his cheek and thanked him for everything. He put out his hand again. “Would you like to dance?” I took his hand and he pulled in. I rested my head on his shoulder as we rocked side to side.

(Lauren’s necklace: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=67600725) 

After a few minute he leaned his head down and began slowly and gently kissing my shoulder. He kisses were rising up my neck. It was driving me insane. He kissed me until he reached the top of my neck. I moved my head back to face him. He gave me his powerful gaze from his blue eyes and pressed his lips against mine. He had so much passion in his kiss. He lifted me up and I wrapped my legs around his waist. Still kissing me, he carried me to his bedroom. He took a seat on his bed, so now I was kneeling over him. I continued to kiss him while I slid his jacket off of him. I undid his tie and began unbuttoning his shirt. As I was taking his shirt off, he slowly pulled the zipper on the back of my dress down. We stood up and I pushed his shirt off of him. my dress had fallen to the floor and I unbuckled his belt and slid his pants off while he unhooked my bra. He pulled me back onto the bed so he was over me.

After we were done, we just gazed at one another. We stared each other in the eyes with smiles on our face. I fell asleep in his arms that night. It was one of best moments in my life.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

(Niall’s POV)

I woke up to a ray of sun peeking through the window curtain and shining into my eye. My eyes fluttered open and I already had a smile on my face. Lauren’s head was nestled under my chin. She had her right arm thrown over my stomach and her feet tucked under mine. Her hair was resting upon my arm, as it was wrapped around her body. She lay there, so peacefully. She looked like a goddess. Her breathing was even and quiet. She just looked so beautifully perfect to me. I noticed a something shining from the ray of sun hitting it on my chest. It was her necklace. I remember how her eyes lit up when I gave it to her last night. God, I love her I thought. And it was true. I did love her, maybe too much. I haven’t felt like this with anyone ever before. I thought about what her name would be like if we ever married. Lauren Horan. It even rhymed. It was meant to be. It was perfect. She was perfect. A knock on the door snapped me out of my thoughts and back into reality. The door opened just a crack and Liam’s head peeked through. He stood there for a minute just staring at me. Then, he gave me an inappropriate smile and a thumbs-up. I rolled my eyes at him and raised my eyebrows as a way of asking what he wanted.

“Breakfast is ready. We thought you would be hungry,” he whispered giving me a grin. I nodded my head and motioned him to leave. Of course I knew breakfast was ready. I could smell the bacon. I was hungry too. But I would gladly wait for her to wake. After Liam shut the door, I heard his footsteps dash into the kitchen.

“NIALL GOT LAID!” he shouted. The other boys started cheering and clapping. I through my head back. Neither I nor Lauren would hear the end of this for the rest of the day. I know Louis is bound to say something rude to her.

I felt Lauren’s head move on my chest. She lifted her head slowly and looked at me to see if I was awake. Our eyes met and she smiled. I loved her smile. She set her head next to mine and was facing me. I turned my head so I could gaze into her beautiful green eyes.

“Good morning, darling.” I said to her. She blushed and took my hand in hers.

“Good morning, baby.” She kissed me on my cheek and I felt butterflies in my stomach. I pulled her closer to me and kissed her on her forehead.

“Are you hungry?” she asked after a moment. “I can make some pancakes if you wanted.”

“Breakfast is already made. One of the boys made it. I’m assuming Zayn. He’s the chef of the group,” I said smiling at her.

“I’m starving. Come on,” she said as she got out of bed, still holding my hand. I didn’t budge and yanked her back towards me. “Stay here with me,” I whined.

“YOU are going to turn down food?” she asked me laughing.

“I would do anything for you,” I said back.

“Would you get up and come eat breakfast with me then?” She pushed her bottom lip out to make a pouty face. I gave in, got up, and began to get dressed. I went to my closet and through on a red t-shirt and some gray sweats. I turned around to see her waiting for me in my green plaid robe. She looked sexy in it.

“What?” she said after a moment.

“Nothing, you just look so great in my robe.” I said as I winked at her. She strolled over to me and planted a kiss on my nose. I pulled her in by her waist and she put her hands on my shoulders. I kissed her gently on her lips, and she seemed glad to return it. I lifted her a bit and set her on my feet. I began waltzing around the room as she laughed. I couldn’t help but laugh either. She put both of her hands on either side of my face and pulled me in for a kiss, still laughing. I loved her laugh. Once she started, she couldn’t stop. Just like me.

“C’mon! I’m hungry and I know you are too,” she said, tugging on my arm as she headed for the door. I rolled my eyes and flashed a smile at her. As we walked into the kitchen, hand in hand, I was waiting for someone to say something about last night. I was watching Louis especially.

“Morning,” the boys all said in sync.

“Morning everyone,” Lauren said politely after sitting down with a plate full of food. For some guys, a girl who eats as much as he does is a big turn off. But, I personally would rather have her eat like I do.

“This is delicious! Who made it?” Lauren said. Zayn raised his hand with a proud smile on his face. “Thanks, love.” She nodded and continued with her meal.

I gave a small wave of my hand and cautiously headed for the food. I scooped some bacon onto my plate. I saw Louis jerk his head towards Lauren. He had his eyebrows raised in curiosity and began to open his mouth. I dropped my silver fork onto my glass plate, causing a loud clanking noise to sound throughout the room. Everyone looked up at me, but I kept my eyes only on Louis. I gave him a stern look, for he was the only one that kept his attention on me. He put his hands up, palms facing me, as a sign of peace. I nodded and continued with my breakfast. I took a seat between Liam and Lauren, and kept a good watch on Louis the whole time. We had made it through breakfast without someone making a single comment.

**(Lauren’s POV)**

I sat in the living room with Liam, Zayn, and Louis waiting for Niall and Harry to finish with the dishes. I offered to help but Harry refused it. I knew Niall agreed with him to, so I gave in. The boys had been watching football and I had been watching Niall. He was talking about something to Harry. He was keeping it a secret because he was whispering.

When they finished, Niall stood in the doorway of the kitchen. He motioned for me to follow him. We went into his room where I began to make the bed. When I finished he tossed me a pair of his sweatpants and a t-shirt.

“What are we doing?” I asked throwing the shirt over my head. By now he was dressed in a pair of jeans and the same shirt he had on earlier this morning. He winked at me with a smirk on his face.

“Come on,” he said walking out the door. He headed out of the room and to the front door. As I was walking out the door, Louis yelled for me.

“Wait!” He came running towards me and pulled me into a big hug. He was hugging me really tight. I saw the rest of the boys come in. After Louis let me go, he went and pulled Niall into a hug. Next, Liam hugged me; then Harry, and finally Zayn. What is going on? I thought. Niall took my hand and led me out the door. The other four stood in a row waving and shouting “goodbye” and “have fun”. Where would we be going? What are we doing? Why were they saying “have fun”? Niall led me towards the car.

“What is going on, Niall?” I said putting my seat belt on. He kissed my hand and held it in his.

“Niall James Horan, where are we going?”

“Relax! Right now we are just heading back to your place for now.”

“And then…?”

“It’s a surprise.” He saw the look on my face. I was worried. I don’t hate surprises, but I was worried. Why would the boys be hugging me like that? Like they wouldn’t see me for a long time? “It’s all going to be fine. I promise.” He said. He gripped my hand tighter and gave me a half smile. I nodded and he drove off to my flat.

When we pulled up to my flat, he parked the car and said “Run up to your room and put something nice on, but also comfortable.” I looked at him confused but he just squeezed my hand and nodded, trying to reassure my. I rushed into the house and into my room and threw on a baggy tee with a rainbow striped heart, some red leggings, and some black slipper boots. I was still wearing Niall’s necklace. I loved it. (Lauren’s outfit: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=67869271) I went to the bathroom and splashed some cold water onto my face. I wanted to refresh and rejuvenate myself a bit if we were going out in public. I got into the car and Niall drove off again. I plugged my phone into the iPod doc connected to his radio. I turned the shuffle on my One Direction playlist. Niall smiled and started singing at the top of his lungs with his window down. It made me laugh so much, I was embarrassed but he just laughed along with me. After about an hour of driving, my impatience and my curiosity took over me. “Where the bloody hell are we going Ni?” He smiled a mischievous smile. “We’re almost there.” He sat for a moment. He turned down the music and I could see he was thinking. It looked as if he was conflicted.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve been thinking. I don’t want to push you into anything. Since we have officially become a couple and since I have paparazzi always behind me, we’re going to have to go public.” He paused to look at me. He got nervous and spoke again. “I mean I’m not saying I want to be parading you around like a show girl or anything. I just think we should tell it like it is. I don’t want people following you around and asking you all these questions. But, I didn’t want to say anything unless you approved.” I thought about it for a moment. Of course I wanted to be able to say “I’m Niall Horan’s girlfriend” but I’ve heard some things El, Danielle, Janey, and Perrie get from fans. They get horrible tweets and rude messages. I don’t know if I could handle that. But, I didn’t want paparazzi breathing down both of our backs.

“Absolutely,” I said. He seemed relieved and turned the music back up.

We drove for about fifteen more minutes when he pulled off of the road and into the parking lot of the airport.

“What exactly are we doing here?” I said.

He smiled my favorite smile at me. “We’re going on vacation.”


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6:

I was really confused. “Huh?”

“Well, I know you have your spring break this next three weeks. Plus, your birthday is in just a few days and I wanted to do something nice!” Niall said with a grin.

I was grateful that he wanted to do this for me but I was not prepared at all. As if reading my mind, he spoke up again. “Don’t worry. I already have stuff packed and ready to go. We have a place to stay, things to do, and time to spend. Just you and me.”

“Where are we going?”

“Colorado, USA. I know you always wanted to go snowboarding in the mountains. I even talked to your old friend from high school, Meghan, about staying there. It’s all taken care of. But, if you don’t want to, you can still change your mind. I won’t be offended at all; all up to you.” He was still smiling ear to ear. I was excited too. I would get to be with him alone for three weeks. I would get to go snowboarding, and I would be able to see Meghan. I hadn’t seen her since senior year. I had been spacing out long enough to get Niall worried. “Lauren, if you don’t want to go it’s absolutely fine.”

“Are you kidding? I’d love to go!” I said smiling. He took another sigh of relief and jumped out of the car. I followed him to the trunk where he had pulled out two luggage sets: a red one for him and a purple one for me. At this point, I felt pretty stupid for not seeing those there before. He noticed my cheeks flushing red and smiled, kissing me on the head.

We rolled into the airport and went through all the security. Our flight was leaving at 12:30pm, and we had almost missed it because Niall was waiting in line for a pretzel. I convinced him that he could have food on the plane just in time to reach the plane. We had taken our seats in first class. I had never been there before. It seemed so much better than coach. We were given wine and Niall had ordered two roasted teriyaki chicken sandwiches for himself and one for me.

On the plane, we had taken a picture together to officially become a public couple. He tweeted the picture and said: On my way to the states with my new sweetheart :). He instantly got sudden of retweets, favorites, comments, and I had received a ton of new followers. It was official. I was Niall Horan of One Direction’s girlfriend. When we landed, we drove straight to Meghan’s house. When we arrived, she had been sitting on her porch in all winter clothes reading a book. As the rubber tires crumbled the rock driveway, she jerked her head up and a smile stretched across her face. She jumped up and before I was even out of the passenger seat she was hugging me. Meghan had always been the very positive, peppy person. That’s what I liked about her. I realized that I hadn’t seen my best friend in over two years. It felt nice to have her there again.

“Lauren! I miss you so freaking much! How are you?” she says hugging me tightly. I struggled to get out of the car but once I was on my feet I was more than happy to return her hug.

“I missed you too, Meghan. I’m good. I’ve actually been great these days.” I looked over at Niall who was unloading the car. He looked at me with his smile and winked. As he lifted the luggage from the trunk, his arms were flexing and I could see his toned muscles.

“Hello?” Meghan said, shaking me from my thoughts. I brought my attention back to her but she knew I was staring at him.

“You’re so damn lucky, girl!” she whispered to me. She flashed her rubber One Direction bracelets that were wrapped around her wrist. I laughed and she walked me inside. Niall followed close behind. I tried to take some luggage in but he wouldn’t let me. Meghan lived in a small narrow house. As soon as you walked in the door, you traveled up a narrow stairway. At the top of the stairway was a small kitchen, and to the right was the living room. We took a seat on the couch and began to catch up. When Niall finished bringing in luggage, he took a seat on the side of me and wrapped his arm around my back. He planted a kiss on my cheek and laughed a silent laugh in my ear. I laughed as well and took his hand in mine.

“Aww! You guys are too adorable!!” Meghan cooed. I blushed and Niall just tightened his grip around me, still smiling.

“Thank you.” Niall said politely. I nodded to second his thank you and Meghan had her usual smile stretched across her face.

“We should probably move this luggage out of the middle of the floor,” I said.

“Oh yeah! I have a spare room for you guys to stay in. Come on!” Meghan sprang from the couch and gestured for us to follow. I grabbed some luggage, ignoring Niall as he insisted I put it down. she led us across the hall from the living room to a closed door. She opened it to reveal a decent sized room that had some old books lying around. She had set up an air mattress for us and had comforters and pillows near by. Niall set the luggage neatly in the corner of the room and took his stance behind me again.

“I know it’s not much but-”

“Meghan it’s perfect,” I said to her. Niall nodded his head in agreement and Meghan left us to get settled in.

“I’m going to go get something for dinner. You guys want anything particular?”

I looked up at Ni as a gesture that he could choose. He gave Meghan a polite smile and said, “Would chicken work for you?” The mention of chicken brought me to remember something about Meghan. “She’s a vegetarian Ni.”

“It’s fine! I knew Niall would want meat. I’ll just make a salad or a PB&J for myself.” I gave her a look I know she would only know of. It was my “apology look”. She widened her eyes just a bit and nodded, confirming it was fine.

“I can make the chicken if you would feel more comfortable with that.” Niall said to Meghan. I chuckled a bit. “Niall you can’t make toast if you wanted to.” Meghan laughed and Niall stuck his tongue out at me. I smiled and he kissed the top of my head.

“Alright, my number is on the counter if you need anything. See you guys in a bit!” and with that Meghan was gone. As soon as the door shut, he grabbed me by my hips and swung me around to face him. He startled me and I let out a small gasp.

“Did I scare you?” he asked smiling as he leaned in for a kiss. I put my hand in front of his face and he was laughing more into my palm. He took my hand in his and pulled me in closer. He pulled me into a tight hug. I nestled my face into the side of his neck. He had his lips pursed against my shoulder.

“Lauren?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.” I smiled into his neck.

“I love you too, Niall.”

He leaned back and pressed his lips against mine for a light kiss. I wrapped my arms around his neck as his wrapped around my waist. I pulled away from the kiss and rested my forehead against his. I stared into his ocean blue eyes. I felt like I could stay in that moment forever.


	7. Chapter Seven

When Meghan came back, I told her I would make the chicken. She insisted she should but I refused her.

“You’re a vegetarian. I’m not going to make you watch an innocent animal be fried for someone to eat.” I could tell I bummed her out a bit but it worked. She handed over the pan.

“Besides, I wanted to see if you could spend a little time with Niall. Get to know him a little better.”

She smiled wide. “I’m going to. But I have three weeks to get to know your boyfriend and I need to catch up with you.” That’s the first time I heard someone refer to him as “my boyfriend”. I smiled at the thought of it. “We will. We have three weeks,” I said with a smug smile, copying her words. She shook her head at me and laughed and she strolled into the living room. As I was cooking, I would hear them laughing. I was glad they were getting along. In the middle of their conversation I heard my name mentioned. Were they laughing about me? I try to think of something to say but I couldn’t. However, I still found myself walking into the living room. I searched for something to say. “So what are we talking about?” I finally blurted out. What the hell is that? Niall got up and stood behind me wrapping his arms around my waist.

“Just talking about how great of a friend and girlfriend you are.” He said with a cheeky smile. I couldn’t help but smiling again at the word ‘girlfriend’.

“Don’t worry, love. We weren’t laughing at you. I promise,” he whispered so only I could hear him. It was like he knew what I was thinking. I nodded my head slightly and unwrapped his arms from around my waist. I hurried a bit to the kitchen to continue cooking. When it was finished, I set a plate for myself and then one for Niall, making sure to add extra food onto his plate. Then, I made Meghan a peanut butter sandwich, with a glass of milk. I felt like I was preparing a plate for a child. But, Meghan had always been a kid at heart. I carried their plates to the living room, knowing that the kitchen was too small for us all three to eat in. I walked back in and grabbed two cokes for Niall and I. I think the one thing he couldn’t stand about the States is not being able to drink since we were only nineteen. I handed him a can and took a seat on the end of the couch. He was sitting close beside me while Meghan was in a chair beside the couch, closest to me. During dinner, we talked about old high school memories and grade school memories. We talked about old friends we had like Mark and Nicole. Niall shared stories about going on tour and telling Meghan about me. He told her our story and how we became ‘us’ and told her about what he felt when we first met. “Within a couple hours of meeting her, I fell for her.” Meghan smiled and cooed at us. Niall let out a laugh and said, “I literally fell for her. She was sitting on our couch and I tried to impress her, I guess, by jumping over the couch and landing in the seat. Like in the movies. Turns out, I wasn’t very good at it. My feet got caught on the top of the couch and I hit my face on the carpet.” Meghan and I burst out laughing. But I kissed him on the cheek to show him I was laughing with him not at him. He rolled his eyes and pulled me in with his arm over my shoulder. I remember that moment. I remember how his face was all red partially because he got a rug burn and because he was embarrassed. He looked like a sad lost puppy and I felt bad for him. I was brought back to reality from my thoughts when Meghan tapped me on the shoulder. “How is Louis?” she asked me. Meghan was never really good friends with Louis. She only hung out with him and me a couple times but they were friends. I told her he was fine and told her a little bit about the boys. She laughed at how crazy and funny the boys were. Like they had always been. We talked for hours and by the time we were tired, it was already midnight. We said our goodnights and Meghan trudged herself into her room. I patted Niall’s knee and stood up. He stood up behind me, hugging my waist and kissing my shoulder. I slowly made my way to the guest bedroom. I began putting sheets on the mattress and set the comforters and pillows up. In the meantime Niall had gone to brush his teeth and prepare for bed. When he came back I was sprawled across the mattress. He plopped himself down, bouncing me into the air. When I landed back on the mattress, I laughed and hit his chest.

“I’m sorry, love.” he said stroking the side of my face.

“You’re lucky you’re cute,” I said with a grin. He smirked and let out a quiet laugh. I let out a shiver and Niall instantly reacted. “Are you cold?” he was off of his back and hovering over me, putting the weight of his head on his right shoulder. “A little bit,” I said with a small nod. He pulled me into his tight grip and we cuddled under the covers. He kissed my head which was resting underneath his chin. We had laid there for a couple hours, both of us in silence. I sighed a little and felt his muscles tighten up a bit. “Still awake?” he whispered.

“I don’t know why I can’t sleep. Why can’t you sleep?” I said after a minute.

“You’re shaking like crazy. Why are you so cold?”

“I have no idea.” He reached over and grabbed another comforter off the floor. We were now under three, and I started to warm up a bit. He started humming a little, which gave me an idea. “Niall?”

“Hmm?”

“Can you sing to me?” he chuckled before answering. “What song, baby?”

“I don’t care. Something of yours.” With that, he began to sing “Truly, Madly, Deeply” and I fell asleep as he had reached his solo.


	8. Chapter Eight

I fluttered my eyes open to see another blanket on me. I must have still been shivering after I fell asleep. Meghan lived on a low part of the Rockies, which I wasn’t used to such cold weather during spring. Niall was still asleep next to me, and I was wrapped in his arms. I managed to get out of his grasp and off the mattress without him waking. I slipped on my slippers when I heard Meghan humming in the kitchen. When I made my way there she was facing the stove, away from me with her headphones in. she was dancing around still humming. I recognized the song: Live While We’re Young. I tapped her on the back and she jumped, gasping and realizing it was me.

“Lauren, you scared the hell out of me!” she screamed.

“Shh. Ni is still sleeping.” I said with a smile. She shot me a look and I put my hands up in defense. “Okay, I’m sorry.” I said smiling. She shook her head and rolled her eyes and went back cooking. She was making chocolate chip pancakes. I pulled out some bacon and a pan to scramble them. It was quiet for a minute or two when Meghan broke it.

“How did you sleep?” she asked me keeping her attention on the pancakes.

“I slept alright. I guess I’m not used to the cold temperatures here.” She nodded her head in agreement. “I had to adjust to it after London but I love it here!” she said happily. I smiled at her when I heard a raspy voice from the kitchen doorway.

“Do I smell bacon?” Niall said rubbing his eye with his knuckles. He stretched his arms above his head and flexed his muscles. I could see his abs peeking out from the bottom of his shirt as it lifted with his arms. “Yeah, babe. It’s almost ready.” He smiled and pecked me on the cheek. He must have just brushed his teeth because I could smell the mint in his breath. Niall took a seat by the coffee table in the living room and I brought him a plate. Meghan flipped on the telly and changed it to Tom & Jerry. As I said before, she was always a kid at heart and that’s what was so great about her. We talked a little bit about Denver, which is where we were. Meghan told us about some good restaurants to go to for date night, but I interrupted her.

“Meghan, I think it would be rude if we went out on date nights, leaving you here by yourself.”

“Are you kidding? You guys came out here for a romantic break and that’s exactly what you’re getting! Don’t worry about me! I’m going to see some family the entire time, so I’m not even going to be home!”

“I have certain days set out to wear it will be just us and some days will be all three of us, darling. Meghan and I have talked it over and it’s all set,” Niall said to me wrapping his arms around me. I held his hands which were resting on my chest and looked at Meghan.

“Are you absolutely sure?”

“Of course!” I was silent for a moment but then nodded my head.

“Okay,” I muttered under my breath. I don’t know if they actually heard me. After breakfast, Niall decided to clean up since Meghan and I made breakfast. When he finished he went to our room and eventually came out in snow clothing. He had a heavy brown sweater on over a white under armor with some snow pants and a black hat on. He was wrapping a scarf around his neck when he threw me some clothes to put on. “Where are we going?”

“We’re going snowboarding while Meghan goes to see her parents.” He says smiling. I’m filled with excitement and it must have been pretty clear through my facial expressions because Niall smiled even wider. I told him I needed a shower first and began right away. When I came out, Meghan had already left and Niall was waiting on the couch in the living room. “Was I keeping you waiting too long?” I asked him worriedly. He smiles and pushes himself up and wraps his arms around my waist. He pulled me in for a long, passionate kiss. His lips are so soft and he is such a great kisser. He bit my bottom lip playfully then slowly pulled away and rested his forehead upon mine. I was breathless and could barely speak. I smiled and he did the same. He took my face in his left hand and wrapped his right arm around my waist. We stood there, one’s forehead against the other’s, in complete silence. But as I stared into his ocean blue eyes, it was like we were saying a million things back and forth. He stared at me for a little longer and still, looking in my eyes, he said, “Lauren, I love you so much. I don’t think anyone could ever know how much you mean to me. I don’t even think I can understand how much.” I felt a tear escape from my eyes. Niall’s thumb left my cheek and wiped away the second tear from the corner of my eye. “What’s wrong?” I shook my head and let a laugh escape my lips.

“I love you too, Niall.” He laughed and pulled me in for another kiss. I realized I had only been with Niall for four days but I loved him so much. I always have. Ever since the beginning, I have. Niall had absolutely always been there for me. When Louis first brought me to meet the boys, I got to know and love all of them individually. But, there was always something that drew me a little closer to Niall than the rest. Something that drew me closer to him, and I didn’t even know about it until now. Niall is the type of person that could pull you into a great friendship just with his first ‘Hello’. Niall is the type of person that would bring you into a conversation if you were feeling left out. Niall is the type of person that would come and join you at a lunch table if you were sitting alone. Niall is the type of person that would give everything he can to the one he loves. And now, I was that girlfriend. According to Zayn, I was the luckiest girl in the world.

He pulled out of the kiss and was looking at me again.

“You want to something?” he says smiling.

“Hmm?”

“I think I might have found my princess.” My heart didn’t skip just one beat. It skipped a lot of beats. Just by the way he said it, it made my entire body go numb. He chuckled a nervous laugh when he said it. Niall had turned down plenty of opportunities to date someone because his exact words were ‘I say my princess is on her way, I have to wait!’. I smiled one biggest smiles. “I’m not anything special, Niall.” He now moved his hands onto either of my shoulders and was looking at me so seriously. “Don’t ever say that. You’re everything to me. You’re pretty damn special and don’t ever forget it.” I nodded my head and the seriousness was wiped off his face. Tenderness returned to his expression and he kissed me on the forehead. “You’re one of the most special people in the world,” he whispered.

“Niall, I can’t ever lose you.”

“You never will. I absolutely promise you. Now, come on, let’s go snowboarding.”

With that, Niall and I left the house and headed for the mountains.


	9. Chapter 9

We pulled up to the ski lodge and Niall parked the car. I couldn’t wipe the smile from excitement of my face and it was evident Niall was enjoying every minute of it.

“Here we are!” he said with a grin stretched across his face. “Excited?” he asked me rhetorically.

“Hell yeah!” I said in return which made him laugh his laugh. He jumped out of the car and as usual came around to the other side to open my door. I took his outstretched hand and he pulled me close to his chest and dipped me like we were dancing. As he brought me back up, he twirled me around and I almost fell on my face. Luckily, his arm was resting under mine to catch me from my fall.

“You are such a klutz,” he said to me laughing. I playfully slapped his left shoulder which only made him laugh more. Of course, I was laughing now and we both were at a point where it was uncontrollable. He held me in his arms as we stood in the parking lot laughing our hardest. People would walk by and stare at us but honestly, I don’t think either of us cared. We were in our own moment and that’s all we needed. When we finally wore out our laughter, I found myself gripping on his arms as they wrapped around me. I rested my head on his chest, under the crook of his neck. I could hear his heartbeat and it was beating a bit faster than a normal pace. “Are you okay?” I asked him not moving from our position. “I’m fine, why? What is it?”

“You’re heart’s beating a bit fast.” I could feel the vibrations run through his body as he chuckled at my words. “What’s so funny?” I asked him confused.

“My heart is always like that when I’m with you. I’ve gotten used to it now so I guess I don’t even notice.” His words sent warmth throughout my body. I felt the blood rush to my cheeks as I blushed. I wasn’t sure what to say to him, mostly because I couldn’t find any words to say. He had taken me speechless once again. “Hmm,” was all I could get out: A simple hum into his chest. He smirked and broke our embrace. He still kept his left arm around my shoulder as we walked up to the front entrance of the lodge.

“Welcome!” a much too perky receptionist said from her desk as we walked in. “Do you have a scheduled time?” she asked. Niall smiled politely and nodded his head.

“Horan: two people,” he responded to her and shook her hand. The woman shot her head up at the mention of the name Horan. Her eyes widened as she took in Niall standing in front of her. Of course she’s a fan. It’s pretty hard to go through America without finding a girl between the ages of 5-25 that wasn’t a fan. She was speechless for a while but finally managed to get out, “Oh. My. God! You’re Niall. Niall Horan. From One Direction! I am such a huge fan! I have both of your CD’s and I listen to them every day nonstop. I love you!” I tried my best to hold a polite attitude but this girl was pissing me off. I just don’t understand how girls can get up in someone’s face like that. Even though I had known them, if I didn’t, I wouldn’t act like that. People are just too insane sometimes. I knew Niall knew what I was thinking when he lightly squeezed my shoulder. I nodded knowing what he was asking. Not that he needed it, but with my approval he embraced the crazed girl and signed her notepad. She took a quick picture with him and then she was fulfilled. “Thanks Niall! You know, if you ever want to come in for a ski lesson, here’s my number,” she said with a wink, handing him a slip of paper. I felt rage building up within me. Could she not fucking see me standing right there? He spoke before I could. He knew I was pissed. “I’m sorry, but I actually already have a snow partner,” he said with a smile on his face kissing my head. The girl looked shocked at first, probably not seeing the official announcement from yesterday. She apologized and Niall nodded his head assuring it was “no biggie”. She turned to me and apologized but had a harsh tone behind her voice. I nodded and she turned towards Niall. “This way please,” she said with a smile. She rushed down a narrow hallway and before he started walking, Niall turned to me. “Sorry about that. Don’t worry about that stuff though. You’re fine,” he whispered in my ear. I nodded and pecked his cheek. He smiled in confidence and took my hand, leading me to follow him as he followed the receptionist. She led us outside to a small hill where we met with an instructor. “Hi. I’m Nate. I’ll be your instructor today,” the man said as he shook Niall’s and then my hand. We both smiled and introduced ourselves to Nate. He seemed like a nice guy. He was quite tall and very tan. He had short dark hair and big brown eyes. He looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. As he shook my hand, he seemed to be staring at me a bit. I felt Niall tense up next to me. Ni had a pretty short temper, so I don’t know how he would react. “Lauren?” Nate finally said, looking at my face. “Yes?”

“It’s me! Nate? Nathan? From we went to elementary, junior high school, and high school together? Before you moved out to London?” I filled with joy finally being able to recognize his innocent face and big brown eyes. Nate was a really good friend of mine back when I lived here in the States. I was overcome with the feeling of nostalgia seeing him again. I couldn’t get any words out and looked over at Niall. He nodded after seeing the smile on my face and I pulled Nate in for a huge bear hug. Nate laughed as I squeezed him and I did too. After he let go I immediately took Niall’s hand, giving him reassurance. He relaxed his muscles at the touch of my hand and a smile spread across his face. “A snowboarding instructor? I would have never guessed,” I said smiling at Nate.

“It was something I really got into,” he replied smiling. “But, hey! What are you doing in Denver?” he glanced over at Niall. I could tell he recognized him but he wasn’t sure. “Nate this is ‘one out of the five teen pop sensations’ that are known as ONE DIRECTION’,” I said in a overly dramatic voice. “This is my boyfriend, Niall Horan. Niall, this is Nate. He went to school with me as a kid and was a really good friend.” I tried to put emphasis on friend so Niall wouldn’t be jealous. Nate still had his innocent grin on his face and stretched his hand out to Niall. “Hey, man.” Niall took his hand in his and shook it. “How do you do?” Nate nodded his head saying, “I’m good. I see you’re the Irish one of the group.” Niall nodded. At first, it felt a little awkward, but once we got started on lessons we were all comfortable.

The lesson only took about three hours before we could actually get up on the mountain. I was to go first and Niall kissed me passionately on the lips before sending me over to Nate. I could tell her was still worried, but I trusted him to not do anything. Nate helped me get into the correct stance and once I was done he looked up at me. “Ready kiddo?” I pulled down the snow goggles I had on and nodded my head. Nate backed up and stood about a foot from Niall.

“Go!” Nate shouted from behind. I took a small leap to get myself started and soon I was racing down the hill. I felt so cold, yet so alive at the same time I guided my way down the hill. After I was about one hundred feet from the top, it all started. There was a rock in the middle of the path but it was camouflaged by the snow. The tip of my snowboard hit the rock and sent me flying into the air. I hit the ground hard and started tumbling down the hill. I couldn’t stop myself as I rolled quickly, until I had reached the bottom of the hill. I heard my name being shouted several times but I couldn’t get any words out to respond. I slightly move my head and see red snow forming around my head. Behind that I saw Niall and Nate racing down on their boards toward me. they both hopped off the boards and rushed over, Niall being there first. He hovered over me and was shouting my name. “Lauren! Lauren, love, can you hear me?” I heard his words escape through his tears. “Sweetheart, answer me. Come on, Lauren!” he choked as he said my name. I could hear Nate’s voice in the distance. I assumed he was on the phone calling for a medic. Niall was still hovering over me. “Lauren, I love you so much. Please answer me. Princess, answer me.” those were the last words I heard until I fell back into a pitch blackness.


	10. Chapter 10

**Niall’s POV**

I heard the paramedics rushing towards us in the distance. There was blood gushing out of Lauren’s head. Her eyes were closed and I wasn’t getting a response from her at all.

“Lauren, I love you so much. Please answer me. Princess, answer me.” I tried several times talking to her but I wasn’t getting anything. I pressed my ear against her chest. Ii could hear a faint heartbeat behind the layers of coats and sweatshirts she had on.

“Sir, we need you to step back please,” a paramedic said from behind me. I stayed put right next to Lauren. I just gained my princess and I’m not going to lose her. The paramedic was kneeling on the other side of Lauren now. She looked at me and repeated herself. “Sir, you need to move.”

“No, I’m not leaving her.”

“Sir, if you move we can get her on the gurney, you can come in the ambulance with her if you’re related. Are you?”

I stood up and backed away as they slipped her on to the gurney. “I’m her boyfriend,” I said hoping that was accepted. The woman nodded her head and I followed as her and two other men lifted the gurney into the back of the ambulance. The entire ride there the paramedics were throwing out doctor terms that I didn’t understand. They were using sponges and damp cloths to scrub the dry blood off of her skin, but the wound was still bleeding. Nobody seemed to be focusing in the cut and I couldn’t watch her bleed like that any longer.

“WILL SOMEONE PLEASE FOCUS ON THE SOURCE OF ALL THE BLOOD AND CLEAN UP THE CUT PLEASE? SHE WILL KEEP BLEEDING OUT IF YOU DON’T STOP IT.” I stood up from the seat I was sitting in but the woman paramedic stopped me.

“Sir, I understand your concern but you’re going to have to trust us. We know what we’re doing.” I was letting anger take over me and I took my seat again and apologized. Nate had been in the truck too.

“Hey, man. It’s going to be alright. If she’s the same Lauren I knew, she’s a trooper!” he said with a dorky smile on his face. “In fact, she’s gotten pretty banged up in the snow before. Ha-ha I remember this one time that she-” I shot him a rude look and he shut his mouth. I turned my head back towards Lauren but I swore he rolled his eyes. . I was worried about this guy. He and Lauren seemed too close. I didn’t want to be rude but there’s god damn blood gushing out of her head. Nate didn’t keep shut for too long because he spoke again.

“Look man. This isn’t her first time she’s done this,” he started, speaking in a softer tone, “When we were in sixth grade, her neighbor tossed her a toy shovel to put away and it cut open her forehead. She had to get stitches but other than that she was fine. She’s gotten hurt plenty more times than that, coincidentally a lot of them in the snow. She’s a bit on the uncoordinated side.” He tried to laugh to lighten my mood but it didn’t help. He knew it too.

“It’ll be fine dude,” he said to reassure me. He gave me a nervous pat on the back. I didn’t nudge him away but I didn’t thank him either.

We pulled up to the hospital only to meet doctors waiting for our arrival. A nurse escorted me and Nate to the waiting room while the rest of the doctors rushed into the ER with Lauren. I gave Meghan a call as soon as the nurse left.

“Hey Niall!” she said when she answered the phone.

“Meghan,” I said. She could hear the tears behind my words. “What’s wrong?”

“We’re at the hospital.” I heard a quiet noise when I realized she hung up. I began to redial her number when I got a text: On my way. No need to waste time talking on the phone.-Meghan

I waited for Meghan to arrive when I started thinking about what happened. I felt tears trying to push themselves through my eyes and down my cheeks, but I had to fight them. Nate was still by me and he couldn’t see me like that. I buried my face in my hands trying to muffle the sounds of my sniffling. I sat in silence thinking about Lauren for what felt like fifteen minutes when I felt a light tap on my back. I lifted my head expecting it to be Nate only to find Meghan. She saw right through my cover up and sat down next to me.

“It’s okay to cry,” she whispered. I shook my head and gestured towards Nate who had his face in his phone. Meghan stared at him puzzled for a while before her face lit up.

“Nate Peterson?!” she screamed. Everyone looked up including Nate. He chuckled a bit standing up. “Yep! It’s me! How are you Meghan?” the two made a quick embrace and exchanged greetings and small talk. I tuned them out because I saw a familiar red pants and striped shirt walking towards me. I stood up and Louis face was the saddest I’ve ever seen it.

“How is she?” he asked me urgently.

“They were fixing her up in the ambulance. I haven’t heard of anything yet. How did you get here so early? How did you find out?” He bobbed his head toward Meghan. Meghan looked up at me and I gave her a glare. ‘Sorry’ she mouthed. I shook my head and turned back to Louis to find him staring at me. “What do you mean how did I get here so early? Meghan called me 4 hours ago.” He said. I must have spaced out longer than I thought.

“What the hell happened?” he asked me. he was getting furious, and I myself was becoming scared. Louis was the worst person when he was mad. I told him what had happened and he stared at me for a few minutes after I finished talking.

“Louis say something,” I said to him. He shook his head slowly. He finally spoke, staring at the ground.

“I’m not mad at you, mate. Not really. It’s just…if anything happens to her-” I had to cut him off right there.

“She’ll be fine.” I said sternly. He looked up at me and I tried to hold back the tears. He looked over my shoulder than back at me.

“Ni you can cry now. Nate isn’t there.” I lost it. I let the tears break through my eyes and roll down my cheeks. I muffled the sounds but the tears were never ending. Louis pulled me into a hug to comfort me but it didn’t help. Louis pushed me away and when I looked at him he was looking behind me. A nurse was approaching us with a clipboard in her hand. I quickly wiped the tears from my face and sniffled before she reached us.

“Mr. Horan?” I nodded as a cue for her to continue. She smiled sympathetically while she spoke. “Lauren suffered from two open wounds to her head: one just underneath the hairline above her left eye and one on the back of her head. The one under the hairline need just a couple stiches but the one in the back needed staples.” I looked at her with a blank expression on my face. I couldn’t speak but Louis spoke for me.

“Is she going to be alight?”

“Absolutely. I know it seems like she lost a lot of blood but head traumas always look worse than they actually are. She should be okay to fly home in the next couple of weeks after we can take the stitches and staples out.” I felt a small weight lift off my shoulder but I still felt horrible. Louis patted me on the back with a smile on his face.

“Can I see her?” I asked. I sounded like a little kid, my voice being so high, trying to hold back the tears.

“She’s resting right now and is asleep but you can go in there if you want.” I looked at Louis as an invitation to come with me. he just shook his head.

“You go ahead, mate. I’m going to go find Nate and Meghan and tell them.” He turned in the other direction and the woman pointed me in the direction to go. I nodded and thanked her and headed in. when I walked in, Lauren had huge white gauze wrapped around her head and her eyes were closed shut. I took one of the chairs near her bed and pulled it closer. I took her hand in my two and buried my face in her arm. She wouldn’t wake up for the next couple hours or so. I sat there like that, planting kisses on her arm and tears in her palm. As I lifted my head to wipe my eyes, I saw her eyelids begin to flutter until they opened fully to reveal her beautiful green eyes.


	11. Chapter 11

**Lauren’s POV**

I opened my eyes to find Niall staring at me, his eyes wide. I felt his tears on my hand and heard him sniffling to push more from rolling down his cheeks. I find myself lying in a hospital bed with gauze wrapped around my head. I look at Niall confused, but he’s just smiling.

“Hello, princess,” he says kissing my hand lightly. What the hell is going on?

“How are you feeling?” he asks me, interrupting my thoughts.

“My head hurts a little. Niall, what’s going on?” he looked at me with a look that was filled with confusion and terror.

“You don’t remember? You remember me right?”

“How could I forget you?” he smiled a little when I said that.

“Do you remember snowboarding?” he asked me curiously

“Yes. I remember going down the hill but nothing after that.” He chuckled and planted wet kisses on my along my arm. He traveled up my arm, to my shoulder, to my neck, and finally kissed me on my lips. He smiled and looked at me, his gaze never leaving my eyes.

“You hit your head, love. When you were snowboarding, you wiped out. You cut your head open on your forehead and on the back of your head. You just needed stiches for this one,” he said pointing above my left eye, “but you needed staples in the back.” I nodded slowly.

“Well, that explains the headache,” I said laughing. He didn’t laugh with me. I knew exactly what he was thinking.

“Ni, babe, this isn’t your fault. I’m a klutz!” I said smiling. “I ALWAYS get hurt in the snow or on the ice.” He shook his head.

“Niall-”

“Lauren, stop it. It is my fault. Louis specifically instructed me to keep you safe.”

“Mate, shut the hell up. No one’s blaming you,” Louis said walking through the door. I smiled at the sight of my best mate. He looked at me and gave me a smirk.

“It’s Lauren’s fault for being the accident prone dimwit she is,” he said with a big smirk. I laughed and reached my arms out as he pulled me into a tight hug and kissing my cheek.

“Shut up Tommo!” I said laughing still. It’s funny because it’s true. Just then, I heard one of my favorite questions being yelled into the room as three boys came running through the door.

“VAS HAPPENIN’?” Zayn shouted running towards me. He ran towards my bed and handed me a stuffed giraffe. Liam was next and gave me a white teddy bear holding a heart with the words ‘Get Well Soon’ stitched in the middle. Harry was last with his hands behind his back.

“I wanted to get you the giraffe but Zayn got it first,” he said sticking his tongue out at Zayn, “But here!” he said handing me a small plastic donkey. I looked at him with a smile on my face trying to hold back a laugh. “Look, if you press his nose, he poops out M&M’s! And, it’s refillable!” he said smiling, his dimples caving in to his cheeks. This time I did laugh and so did everyone else in the room, including Niall. I looked at him with my eyebrows raised; trying to ask him if he still feels like this was his fault. He shook his head slightly, smiled, and took my hand in his. Even being in a hospital, I was feeling fantastic. Just having all of the boys around, that’s all I need to have a great day. We sat in the room and talked. The guys laughed when someone made a joke about my coordination. I laughed along but Niall jus squeezed my hand and fake smiled. The nurse came in and brought me some chocolate ice cream. Louis picked up my spoon and was about to take a bite but I slapped his hand playfully.

“What was that for?” he whined.

I took the spoon from his hand and took a bite with a smug look on my face. He chuckled when he spoke. “Fine, we can get our own ice cream. Come on, mates!”

“You guys go ahead. I’ll stay here,” Niall said. They all shrugged and began discussing what kind of ice cream they wanted.

“I wanted vanilla anyway,” Louis said.

“Do you think they’ll have one of those ice cream serving sticks?” Liam asked because of course he was going to use a spoon.

Niall and I sat in silence for a few minutes before I held out a spoonful of ice cream. He smiled and leaned forward opening his mouth and took a bite.

“I didn’t think you would turn down food,” I said with a smirk.

“Ha-ha very funny,” he said sarcastically. He dipped his finger in the whip cream and poked my nose, leaving a dot of whip cream on my face. I laughed and kissed him making sure to rub my nose against his cheek. He didn’t care though. He cupped my face with his hands and held me for a long, passionate kiss. I lightly rested my forehead against his and tangled my fingers in his hair. “I love you, Lauren. I’m so sorry this happened. I’m so sor-” But he was cut off by lips smashing against his. I pulled away and looked him in the eye, our foreheads never separating.

“I’m not going to tell you again. This is not your fault. It’s no one’s fault. It was just an accident, understand?”

He nodded his head and pulled me into another kiss. We separated and sat in silence still with foreheads touching.

“I love your kisses,” he said sweetly. I smiled at him. “and your smiles.”

“I love you.”

“I love you too, darling. With all of my heart, I love you.”

We were interrupted by Zayn knocking on the door.

“Umm, Niall? Can we see you a second?” he headed towards the door but before they left I shouted for Zayn.

“Yes love?” he responded.

“Where are Nate and Meghan? Louis mentioned something about them being here,” I trailed off a bit. He smiled at me. “Meghan texted Louis saying they went out for drinks,” Zayn said winking at me. I was shocked. Meghan and Nate?

The boys left the room but were standing outside the door. They were whispering but I could still here what they were talking about.

Harry: “Has she been on twitter lately?”

Niall: “No, I’ve been trying to make sure she avoids that right now.”

Liam: “They’re going insane right now.”

Louis: “Vicious”

I instantly pull my phone off the nightstand and log in to twitter. That’s when I found what they were talking about. Directioners from all over have been tweeting me. I scrolled down reading all of them. Here and there I would see something like ‘So happy for you guys!’ but the rest were horrible.

Why would Niall date you? You’re fat and ugly.

Obese whale.

She looks like a slut.

You can go burn in hell for taking my man.

I hope you see these and kill yourself.

Nice try, trying to die through a snowboarding “accident”.

Was the accident really just Niall pushing you down the hill?

I couldn’t read anymore. Tears were streaming down my face and my cry was becoming loud. The boys heard me and all darted into the room. The glanced down at my phone which I had thrown at the end of my bed. Niall picked it up to find me scrolling through Twitter. He looked at the boys standing behind him and they knew as well. One by one, they all came and kissed me on my head before leaving. Louis was last and he whispered into my hair, “Don’t let them get you down, sport.” After Louis left, it was just Niall and me in the room. He came to the side of me and slid me over carefully. He laid himself in the open space and began to sing “Little Things” to me. I nuzzled my head into his chest and he was stroking my hair, careful not to hurt my head. I cried myself to sleep that night, listening to his angelic voice.


	12. Chapter 12

I woke up with dry tear stains on my cheeks. Niall’s guitar was sitting near the bed in the open case, but Niall was nowhere to be found. I sat up and noticed a note on the nightstand.

Good morning, love! If you’re reading this, I’m out running a couple errands. I should be back before 11am. I love you, Lauren. With all of my heart. Don’t you ever forget itJ.

-N

P.S. Happy birthday, baby!

That last sentence gave me a reality check. It was my birthday today. I guess in all the mess it was the last thing on my mind. I looked over at the clock. It was 9:34 and I was alone.

“Knock knock,” I heard a voice near the door say. Nate was leaning against the door frame smiling, his white teeth glistening. He lazily walked into the room. As he walked he kept his hands in his pockets, his head looking down, and a smile on his face. He took a seat next to me and stared at me a few minutes.

“How are you,” he asked me still smiling ear to ear.

“I’m fine.”

“I guess the ‘Directioners’ didn’t give you much of a birthday present, huh?”

I just shook my head, holding back tears again.

“You shouldn’t cry about them, Lauren. They’re just jealous.”

“I’m crying because it’s exactly how I feel about myself.” Nate knew this. He’s known it the entire time we’ve known each other. I had always been overweight and still was. Niall helped me forget all that for these few days. Nate shook his head and scooted closer, so his left shoulder was against the bed. He patted his shoulder and I knew exactly what he meant. I rested my head on his shoulder and he took my hand in his and tightened his grip.

“You’re beautiful, Lauren. Don’t ever forget it.” I nodded my head and sat there in silence. I heard Niall’s voice echoing down the hallway of the hospital and Nate sprang up. I gave him a confused look. “I just don’t want to ruin anything with you guys because he doesn’t really seem to like me. I can see it in both of your eyes. When I first saw you look at him, I saw your eyes light up and I felt a huge weight lift off my shoulders. I felt like you were finally happy. When he looks at you, I see a lot of emotions in his eyes. He’s head over heels for you. He sees you and he’s happy, no matter what. He loves you. That’s the best way I could put it.” Nate had his head down the entire time he was talking, so I was the only one that noticed Niall peeking into the room. I looked over at him and he nodded with a smile on his face. I pulled Nate into a huge embrace. He tried to fight it a little bit but gave in quickly and wrapped his arms around me, holding me tight.

“I’ve missed you,” I whisper into his ear. He nodded but didn’t speak. He only sniffled and a grin stretched across my face. He pulled away slowly but kept his face to the ground, trying to hide the tears he was wiping away. He sniffled one more time and stood up. Niall left the doorway so it didn’t seem like he was listening. When Nate walked through the door, I saw Niall flash a smile at him and nod. Nate did the same and continued on to the cafeteria. Niall entered the room and lounged himself across the bed. He supported his head on his elbow and wrapped his other arm around my waist. “Happy Birthday, sweetheart.” He said kissing my nose. I smiled at him. “I forgot it was today had it not been for your note,” I say tucking my head under his chin.

He laughed and pulled me into a tighter grip. He began humming the melody to a song I didn’t recognize. His rhythm was in sync with the sound of his heart beats.

“What kind of errands did you have to run?” I asked him after a minute or so.

“I brought some clothes and shower stuff for you,” he said gesturing towards a duffel bag sitting by his feet, “I ran to the store to get a few groceries, and the rest is a surprise.”

“You’ve been full of surprises haven’t you?”

He smiled into my hair and nodded.

“Is it a present?” I asked him.

“Mm, part of it,” he said with a grin. I hated surprises.

“Can you give me one part of it now?” I asked him, giving my best puppy dog face. He laughed and pulled a clip board. “Here’s your release form,” he said. I grabbed it from his hands and quickly filled it out. I couldn’t wait to get out of there. Name: Lauren Doyle, DOB: March 27, 1994. Blah blah blah. As soon as I filled it out, Niall took it to the front desk. Meanwhile, I hopped in the shower and fixed myself up. As I got out of the shower, I looked in the mirror and it almost scared me to see a huge line of black thread stitched into my face. I probably sat there for ten minutes just staring at it, taking in every detail of the cut, every stitch of the thread. I felt a warm hand touch my bare shoulder, as I still had a towel wrapped around my body. I looked into the mirror to find Niall taking in the expression on my face. I let my head drop and my hair cover my face. “I look like Frankenstein.” I whined. He ran his hand over his mouth like he was trying to wipe the smile off of his face. He wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me close to him, resting his shoulder onto my chin. “You’re beautiful.”

“The fans are right,” I said so quietly that he wouldn’t have heard me if he was a foot away from me.

“Don’t ever think like that,” He told me sternly, “the fans are just that: fans. They’re going to explode when the last single band member is swept off his feet. They’re upset because they know how much we love each other and how great you are that I would never want to lose you.” I turned around still in his arms and kissed his lips with so much passion. I wrapped my arms around his neck, relying on our bodies to hold up my towel. I ran my lips down his neck and to his collar bone, earning a quiet, muffled moan from him. Apparently, it wasn’t quiet enough because I heard Louis voice booming in from behind the bathroom door.

“No banging with the injury, guys!” I laughed but Niall seemed pretty disappointed which made me laugh even more. I kissed his lips one more time before sending him out so I could get dressed.

As I exited the bathroom, Niall and Louis helped me pack up my belongings and head out of the room. I walked out of the room with my fingers intertwined with Niall’s and Louis’ arm around my shoulder. We got into the car and drove off to Meghan’s flat.


	13. Chapter 13

The hospital was about an hour from Meghan’s flat, so the three of us had a lot of time together in the car. Louis drove and Niall took a seat in the back with me. Louis hooked up his iPod into the stereo and the first song to come on was “Hero” by Enrique Iglesias. Louis looked back at me and he had the biggest grin on his face.

“What’s wrong with you?” I asked giggling. He turned his attention back to the rode and spoke.

“Do you remember when we danced to this song at formal?” he asked me still smiling. I smiled at the memory. Louis had asked me to go to formal with him because “every other girl in the school was a whore or a bitch”. I nodded at him.

“Yeah I do. Do you remember why I was your date in the first place?”

He dropped his head laughing, and nodded.

“I hated everyone else besides El.”

“You just didn’t have the guts to ask her.” He rolled down his window and sang the song at the top of his lungs replacing the word ‘baby’ and sang “I can be your hero, Lauren” instead. Just like he did at the dance. I smiled and snuggled up to Niall who had his eyes closed but I knew he wasn’t sleeping. He sighed and wrapped his arm round me. I closed my eyes as well but noticed Louis stopped singing. I opened my eyes just enough to be able to see him looking through the rear view mirror. He had a sweet smile on his face and was staring at us. I smiled a small smile and closed my eyes.

—-

I jolted out of my nap when Louis slammed his car door. He opened up the trunk and began unloading my belongings. Niall yawned and stretched his arms behind his head, revealing his toned biceps. He looked at me through eyes half opened.

“Morning,” he said grunting.

“We’re here,” I whispered to him. he looked out the car window and stretched again. He undid his seatbelt and crawled out of the car. I followed and he helped me down, making sure I didn’t bump my head. Louis was already in the house as we walked up the steps to the porch. I walked in and up the stairs in to the living room to find Meghan, Nate, Zayn, Louis, Liam, and Harry standing around the coffee table with smiles on all of their faces. On the coffee table were a few red solo cups and a two layered sheet cake with the words ‘Happy Birthday’ written across the vanilla frosting.

“Happy Birthday!” they all said in sync. I tried to fight a smile back but it peeked out a little which was enough for Louis to notice.

“Don’t pretend like you don’t love it, sport!” he said pulling me into a big hug. I let go of Niall’s hand which left him there standing awkwardly. I laughed at Niall over Louis shoulder but played it off as laughing at Louis. I didn’t want him to feel bad. As soon as Louis let me go, Niall reunited our hands and kissed the top of my head. I walked over to the boys and Meghan and they all gathered around me and pulled me into a group hug. I was in the middle and the only people I could see were Nate, Niall, and Liam. I took a seat on the couch with everyone gathered around me, and Meghan put the candles on the cake and they all sang. The boys’ voices harmonized like angels and I couldn’t help but smile. They didn’t plan it. They’re voices just fit together so well, like a puzzle. I blew out the candles and everyone clapped and cheered. I got a kiss on the cheek from Niall. We cut the cake and Meghan pulled out the ice cream. We all sat around the table and ate our treats. At some points it would be all quiet as we took a spoonful (well Liam a forkful) of food into our mouths. But most of the time it was filled with loud cackles of laughter. After we finished, the boys formed a “train” as they called it to wash dishes. Harry claimed it would make it more fun, which it was fun to watch. Zayn picked up the dishes, Harry washed, Louis dried, Liam put away plates, and Niall put away silverware. It was cute to watch how they all worked together. When they finished, we all gathered ourselves back around the table. Everyone pulled out their gifts they had gotten me.

“None of you should’ve gotten me anything.”

“Come on now, Lauren! You should have known we did,” Zayn said with a smile on his face. I gave in and Harry was the first to give me his present. He got me a Soft Kitty, Warm Kitty shirt and a snapback with the words “Hipsta Please” on the front. I laughed at the references and thanked him with a hug. (Harry’s gift: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=70361632)

Next was Zayn who got me a 1D varsity jacket with my name on the back and a pair of glasses similar to his with the One Direction logo on the side. I gave him his hug and moved on to Liam’s present. (Zayn’s gift: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=70362615)

Liam gave me his present with a shy look on his face. “I’m not really good at getting gifts, especially for girls, but I did my best.” A smile stretched across my face at the insecurity in Liam’s expression. I opened up the box to find a monkey hat and a charm bracelet with the Irish and British flag on it. I gave him a huge smile. (Liam’s Gift: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=70380584)

“Liam, I love it. Thank you.” He seemed relieved. He reached across the table to give me a hug and almost knocked over Louis’ beer. He blushed out of embarrassment so I gave him the biggest hug yet. As I returned to my seat, I noticed Louis wasn’t in the room anymore.

“Where’s Lou?”

“SSSSUUPPPEERRRRMMMAAANNNNN” I heard his distinctive voice ring from the window. I rush outside to find Lou riding up and down the street on a blue electric scooter. Everyone was behind me and laughing at his antics. He parked it in front of me and pulled me in for a big hug and a kiss on the head. “Happy birthday, squirt!” he grunted into my hair. He waved his arms back as he ‘presented’ the scooter to me. I stood on it but Lou stood close to me making sure I don’t fall. He had wrist bands on the handle bars and they said “No Jimmy Protested”. He also handed me a little box and inside was a blue weaved bracelet with the forever directioner symbol on it. I smiled at him and pulled him in for one of my favorite hugs. When Lou hugs me he rubs my back with his hand and has one arm around my neck, using his fingers to stroke my hair. (Lou’s gift: http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=70386873)

Louis jumped on the back and held my hands under his, as we rode down the street at full speed. I could see as we were coming back Niall had his hands over his head and he was watching us very intently. As I got off I wrapped my arms around his waist. “I’m fine,” I whispered as I kissed his nose. As we headed back to the house, Nate and I trailed behind. “Here,” he said handing me an envelope, “don’t open it until later,” he whispered. I nodded and caught up to Meghan who gave me an iTunes gift card and I thanked her. We all hung out for a while, but soon one by one the boys headed back to the hotel they were in and Nate headed home. He said bye to everyone and said by to Meghan last, pulling her into a hug. I found out later that nothing ever really happened with them, although it almost did. soon, it was Meghan, Niall, Louis and I left at the house. While Meghan and Ni cleaned up, I sat in the guest bedroom and chatted with Louis for a while.

“You know, at first I wasn’t too excited about you and Ni, but I’m glad it happened. You guys couldn’t be more perfect together.” I nodded at him with a smile. He patted his lap lightly and I rested my head on his leg, while he stroked my hair.

“But, no matter what, you’re always my baby.” He said with a smile. When we were younger, he would come to my house and we would sit and play video games for a couple hours but then we would just talk. He promised to never leave and his vow still stood firm in our friendship. He always thought of me as his daughter because I was very dependent of him. He called me his baby since halfway through sophomore year. Louis was one of those soul mates you had where we were meant to be together as friends forever, no matter what. I loved him and nothing would ever change that.

“If Niall and I were to ever break up,” I started.

“I wouldn’t leave you. Ever.” I nodded. Even now, I still feel like I need that reassurance from him. We joined Meghan and Niall when we were done and soon Lou had to go. As soon as he left, Niall told me to get ready because we were leaving. I through on my new jacket from Zayn and hat from Liam and followed him out to the car. We rode in silence down the now darkened road.


	14. Chapter 14

Niall and I had been driving for a half an hour. I was thinking about Lou when a question hit my mind and before I could hold it back, I blurted it out.

“Does it bother you how Lou and I are?”

Niall looked at me in a caught-off-guard expression but turned his eyes back to the road quickly. “What do you mean?” he asked confused.

“Lou and I are very close. VERY close, Ni.”

“I know.”

“Does it bother you?” He let out a sigh and pulled into a parking lot of a hotel. He stared at the steering wheel a minute or two before looking at me.

“Baby, it doesn’t bother me. I mean some small things may bug me just a bit but not nearly as much as to ask you to change it. I trust Lou with everything, even you. You guys have been that close since you came to London. Don’t worry about me. I like that he’s there for you like that.”

I nodded and he lean in for a kiss, taking my face in his hands and stroking my cheek with his thumb. He opened his door and came around to open mine.

“What are we doing?” I say as I step out of the car.

“We’re staying here for a couple of nights. Since your accident, people have known we’re in Colorado and soon will be making traces back to Meghan. We don’t want to put her in some fangirl horror.” He said with a snicker, kissing my nose. Ni gets us checked in and we head to the top floor. When we enter, the suite is probably one of the best hotel rooms I’ve ever seen. When you walk in there is a full kitchen and living room, complete with a flat screen and a fireplace. There is a master bedroom on the right and a connected master bathroom with a Jacuzzi. I gasp when I enter and he’s smiling in delight. He grabs me by my waist and pulls me close to him, pressing his chest to my back. “Happy Birthday,” he said as he nibbled on my ear. I let a soft moan escape from my lips and proud smile stretched across his face. I spun around in his arms and smashed my lips against his. His tongue made its way into my mouth and his hands traveled every inch of my body. He scooped me up bridal style and carried me to the bedroom. He laid me down on the bed and soon clothes were hitting every wall. He hovered over me and stared into my eyes. “You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, taking my face in his palm. Our lips met one more time before he thrust several times before we both reached are climax. He crashed onto the bed, his hair sticking to his forehead. He turned to his side and pulled the covers over us, then pulling me to his chest. He stroked my head a few times before breaking the blissful silence. “How’s your head feel, love?”

“It’s fine,” I said, barely a whisper. He threw his head back and closed his eyes. I cuddled up to his chest and closed my eyes. “I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I fell as I slipped into my dreams. It was the probably the best dream I’ve had.

I was sitting in the living room of what seemed to be a brand new house. I heard pitter patter coming down the hallway, followed by Niall’s voice in a high pitch. A little girl about the age of 2 with light brown hair in a small ponytail like Pebbles from the Flinstones and bright blue eyes came running from out of the hallway and into my arms. Niall came behind her and took her from my hands. He held her stomach up to his mouth and blew on it, making a high pitched giggle come from the girl’s mouth. Soon a bright blonde haired boy came running down the hall. He looked about four years old. He jumped onto Niall’s back and he ran throughout the room, making me break out into a spree of laughter. Suddenly, I found the girl in my arms with her chubby cheeks puffed out and her eyelids resting over her eyes. Niall was next to me and the boy was passed out on his lap. He kissed the little girl’s head and then my cheek.

I woke up to a beam of light from the sun peeking through the curtain hitting my eyes. I sat up and stretched my arms over my head. I heard the shower running and Niall’s angel voice sounding throughout the suite. He was singing “My Heart Skips a Beat” by Olly Murs. I through on his robe and freshened myself up a bit. I ordered room service for breakfast and sat in the bedroom, thinking about last night. that dream was probably the best dream I’ve had in a long time. My thoughts were interrupted by strong muscular arms wrapping around my body and Niall’s minty breath hitting my neck. “Morning,” he whispered leaving a trail of kisses down my neck. Parts of my skin burned at the touch of his lips, as I was still recovering from the love bites he left on my neck and shoulders. One spot burned so bad I flinched at the touch of his breath.

“Sorry,” he murmured. I kissed his cheek. We continued our day in the room, never leaving and just having a day to ourselves.

——

We stayed in the hotel for the rest of the time we spent in Colorado. The boys headed back home but I talked to Louis often over skype. I also talked to Liam a few times. He and I have become pretty close lately. The three weeks had gone by rather slowly, but it was still fun. Turns out, there’s not much you can do in Denver with stitches and staples in your head. We rode to the airport and this time took a private jet home. We hung out for a while but Niall soon fell asleep on the plane tucked under his big blanket. I got a video call from Louis a half hour after he crashed.

“Hey babe!” I smirked at him and put my finger over my lips.

“Niall’s sleeping.” He nodded and looked behind my head and out a nearby window.

“Are you on your way home??” he whispered excitedly. I nodded yes and he got up and danced around. I had to muffle my laughter in my sweatshirt.

“I missed you, Tommo,” I said with a smile.

“I missed you too, Squirt. How was your birthday weekend? You know, disregarding your ingenious little trip down the mountain. What did you get for your birthday?”

I showed him all of my gifts in my bag when I noticed a still unopened present.

“Hmm. I haven’t opened up Nate’s letter.”

“OoOoOoOo.”

“Shut up, Lou. It’s just a letter.”

“Mhm. Sure. Look I gotta go. But let me know what it says!” he blew me a kiss and I “caught it and put it on my cheek. It was a routine we had since we were younger. I pulled out Nate’s letter and opened the envelope. $50 fell out and I pulled out the paper.

 

Lauren,

I’m glad I got to see you again. I don’t think you really realize how much I’ve actually missed you. You had no idea how much I actually cared about you. After you left for London, I didn’t speak to you for months at a time. I went into a depression after you left. Dallas and Brandon tried to help me. They would invite me to parties and buy me drinks, but nothing ever made me forget you. After you left, I realized I had been pushing away all these feelings for you. I liked you. A lot. I’m not saying I want to try something with you. I’ve got my fiancé, Taylor, and I love her to death. And you have Niall. I told you what I saw in you two. I just don’t want to lose you again. I want to see you before the end of this year. Call me: 984-187-5309. Hopefully, I’ll see you soon.

Forever Your Friend,

Nate

I was in tears now because I missed him too. I would call him but not now. I still had plenty of time. I took a seat under Niall’s arm and fell asleep under the blanket with him.


	15. Chapter 15

The plane landed and we got off the plane. When I got off, I saw Lou and the other three standing there waiting for our arrival. Louis saw me and looked so excited he looked as if his smile would break his entire face. “Sport!”

“Tommo!”

He ran towards me and pulled me into a big, overly dramatic hug. I laughed as he lifted me up and quickly set me down, otherwise we both would have fell. I hugged the other three and they all welcomed me back. I hadn’t seen any of them for three weeks, except for Lou who I skyped with all the time. I took Niall’s hand and he gripped it tightly.

“I think I speak for the lads as well as myself when I say I’ve missed you both,” Lou said with a grin. “We’ve missed you guys too,” Niall announced with a smile on his face.

“How’s your head feel, love?” Liam asked with genuine worry in his eyes. I gave him a nod and a smile to show that everything was alright.

“Well that’s good because you gave us quite a scare, young lady,” Zayn said smiling a cheeky smile. We all laughed a bit and then Harry spoke up.

“Who’s in the mood for a bite to eat?”

“I am!” Niall said dashing to the car. Lou drove us down to a little diner in an SUV. Since there were only five seats in the car, Harry took a seat in the trunk and ducked when we past the police a couple of times. We laughed when he did and didn’t get in trouble.

We all sat in the diner. I sat in the middle of Zayn and Harry while Lou, Niall, and Liam sat across from me. Niall frowned when I took a seat between them. “Oh come on Ni! You three are always hogging her. Let us have a turn.” Harry said with his dimples. Niall still looked upset and took a seat across from me. I lightly kicked his leg and he looked up at me. I smiled at him and he pulled my feet in between his. You’re mine, he mouthed. I rolled my eyes at him but couldn’t stop the smile from escaping my lips. We all sat together and the boys told stories of when they were on tour. They were leaving for tour in a month or so. Luckily, I was going with. It had been the plan to go even before Niall and me because El asked me to go and keep Lou company since she couldn’t go. But now, I get to be there with my boyfriend and my best friend which made me really excited. The boys decided to get dessert and they all got up to get some ice cream. Niall offered to get me mine and Liam didn’t want any. He and I sat at the table while the boys went and got their treats.

“He really does like you, you know,” he says to me in a serious tone.

“I had no idea!” I said sarcastically, both of us laughing.

“Well, that’s good because,” I said and motioned him to come closer; “I like him too.” I whispered. he smiled at me and nodded. “You guys look really cute together. It reminds me of when Danielle and I first started dating. Except, there’s something a little different about you too. You guys seem like you’re going to be in this stage forever.”

“Stage?”

“Like you guys are all over each other. You can’t keep your hands off of each other.” I felt my cheeks get hot as I blushed which only made Liam chuckle. I felt something being placed on my head, and I look up above my head to see Niall standing there smiling down at me. He gave me an Eskimo kiss and straightened out the Chicago Bulls snapback he had just put on my head.

“You look cute in my hats,” he said grinning ear to ear.

“You look cute in your hats,” I say to him. He gives me an upside-down kiss on the lips and dips his finger in his ice cream, putting a dot on my nose.

“DEAR JESUS,” Harry shouted taking a seat next to me.

“Get a room,” Zayn said with a grin on his face. Niall blushed and took his seat. He slid my ice cream across the table. “One chocolate ice cream with rainbow sprinkles just the way you like it.” I blow him a kiss and he “catches it”.

“BLAGGHH” Louis is making a barf face and rolling his eyes. Everyone laughs and Niall just squeezes my hand under the table.

-

A month went by and it was just a couple days before tour. Basically it was the same thing every day. I would go to work and then spend the rest of my day at the boys’ flat until I went home. Niall would sometimes come with me and he would sing to me. I’ve been really close to Liam as well as the others.

I was at home, the boys outside on the deck, and I needed to do the dishes from our late lunch. I put my iPod on the doc and turned it up almost as high as it could go. While I was doing the dishes, “Rock Me” and it was one of my favorites. I began singing into a spoon that I was holding and dancing around. I was having a good time, that is, until I spun around and saw Niall standing in the doorway of the kitchen, trying to muffle his laughter. I jumped back probably four feet as he gave me a jump scare. He went into full laughter after that and I felt the heat on my cheeks.

“Niall James Horan, you scared the living fuck out of me,” I yelled at him, trying to keep an angry composure. I turned back around to the dishes so I wouldn’t be looking at him.

“I’m sorry, baby,” he said calmly trying to hold back more laughter. He grabbed me by my waist and pulled me into his chest. He tried to kiss my neck but I pushed him away.

“Don’t think you can just make up for it by kissing me,” I said hitting him lightly with the towel. “I’m sorry, Lauren.” His eyes grew wide and he gave me the most innocent look. It wasn’t fair that he could look that cute. He pulled me into a hug and this time I didn’t push away, but I didn’t hug him back either. My arms rested firmly across my chest. He pulled his head back to give me my favorite crooked smile he does and kissed my nose.

“I’m sorry. I love you,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him. I wrapped my arms his neck and kissed his cheek. I pulled back to see him frowning.

“I thought you were actually mad at me,” he pouted. His lips were pursed in a pouty face and I kissed them. He couldn’t hold back his smile. “I love you a lot,” he laughed.

“I love you too, Furby.” He laughed his loud, uncontrollable laugh and I joined in with him. That was my favorite part of us. The way we laughed when we were together. It was uncontrollable. I don’t think there was ever a day where he couldn’t make me laugh. I buried my face in his shoulder muffling the last of my laughs before I felt his warm lips running down my neck. I let a groan slip from my lips and he lifted his head to my ear. “Jump.” I felt his hot breath against his skin and did as he asked. He grabbed me by my legs and wrapped them around his waist. He carried me to the counter and set me down. he smashed his lips into mine when I heard a knock on the window above the sink. “Counters are for glasses! Not for asses!” Lou yelled from the other side. I heard the other three laughing and Niall groaned in frustration.

“Come on,” he said grabbing the keys.

“Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” We drove for about a half hour until we reached a small lake. He parked in the parking lot and took my hand, hurriedly leading me down the sandy shore. We walked past the sand and into a nearby forest. We walked for about ten minutes when he finally stopped. By now, the sun was setting and the air was crisp but comfortable.

“What are we doing here?”

“I’ve been working on this for a while. I almost didn’t think it would be finished before tour but,” he trailed off. He gestured towards a small path and led me down it. At the end, there was a small shack with crystal lights strung around its structure.

“Me and the lads, we found this place a couple of years ago and marked it our territory,” he said pointing at all of their initials carved into the wood, “I came here a lot to think, mostly about you.” I blushed and his hands pulled me in by my waist. “I like it when you blush.”

“I like you.”

“I love you.”

I pulled him in for a kiss. At first it started off sweet and soft, and then became heated and passionate. He tangled his fingers into my hair and pulled me in closer. He picked me up, lips never separating, and carried me into the shack. There was an old bed with a gold steel frame and white comforter. It looked dingy, but when he laid me down, it was the most comfortable bed I’ve ever been on. He hovered over me and threw off his shirt then quickly returning his lips to mine. We haven’t slept together much, but this was probably the best time. Afterwards, he gave me one more peck on the lips and an Eskimo kiss before crashing next to me. He pulled me in close to him and ran his hand up and down my back. He rested his chin on my head and I listen to his heart beat as he hummed “Little Bird” to me.

“I love you too,” I whispered. His humming stopped and he looked at me giving me a confused look but then a spark lit his eyes. He smiled at me and pulled me in closer, planting a kiss on my head. “I know. How could you not?” I let out a quiet laugh.

“Lauren, I’ll always love you. I promise.”

“I’ll always love you too.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.” After that, I drifted off into a deep sleep.


	16. Chapter 16

I woke up and smelt burning wood and charcoal outside of the shack. I pulled my hair in a quick bun and threw Niall’s shirt on. I walked out the door to see him standing over a fire cooking sausage and bacon on a pan. He was obviously shirtless since I had his shirt and he almost got burned on his stomach. “Shit,” he whispered.

“Well, if you were wearing a shirt…” he saw me and his perfectly white teeth flashed my way.

“Good morning, baby.” He whispered as he kissed my nose. I smiled at him and he looked me up and down.

“I’m going to give you some of my t-shirts. You look good in them,” he said with a smirk and a wink. I rolled my eyes and he just laughed.

—

We were all now on the road for tour and we just finished the first to concerts in England. We were heading to Scotland now and the next day was Valentine’s Day. We stopped in a nearby hotel in Glasgow. The boys had to leave by noon for sound check and I wasn’t to show up until a few hours later. That night in the hotel, Niall was getting settled into bed where I was reading a nearby magazine on the nightstand. Well, I wasn’t really reading it, just looking at pictures.

“Look, baby. I’m sorry that I’m not going to be here for Valentine’s Day. You know if I could I would? There isn’t anything else in the world I would rather be doing.” His voice sounded desperate. I sat on his lap and put my arms around his neck. “Valentine’s Day is just another excuse for girls to be mad at their boyfriends when they don’t get them gifts. I could care less about it. It’ll be fine.” He smiled and pressed his lips into mine. When he pulled away, his eyes were still closed. After a while I had to ask. “What are you doing?”

“Remembering that. I don’t ever want to forget it.”

“Maybe you won’t have to.”

“What do you mean? You see us married?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. I would be Lauren Horan then,” I said with a goofy smile. He smiled back at me and scooted to his side, his arm tucked firmly behind my back as I lay my head on his chest. He flicked off the lamp and began humming “Cold Coffee”. I fell asleep listening to it.

 

 

***Niall’s POV***

I listened to even breathing as she was in a deep sleep. These past couple days have been hard for her. It was her first time on tour and it was rigorous. But, at least she’s sleeping now. I’m just so happy to hear her say instead of my own subconscious over and over. Lauren Horan. Beautiful just like her. I looked down on her face to see a small smile etched on her face. I kissed her fore head and slid her to the side. I settled myself in before pulling her back into my arms. I can’t believe I’m not going to be with her tomorrow. It sucks. I love performing and seeing the fans, but I’d much rather be here with her. I have to do something special, something good. I drifted off making a mental list of possibilities, but I think I found the right one to use in my dreams.

—

I awoke the next morning before she did. I ran downstairs and made her heart shaped pancakes with blueberry syrup and strawberries all around it. I went out and bought a bouquet of roses and some Reese’s, being her favorite candy. When I opened the door, I heard her beautiful morning voice. It was raspy and tired but I can tell she slept well. “Ni?”

“It’s me, babe.”

“Where did you go? I was cold,” she whined. I smiled at her and pulled the tray with the food and roses out of the kitchen and brought it to her.

“Happy Valentine’s Day,” I say planting a quick peck on her lips. She smiled a genuine smile then said, “Roses, chocolate, and breakfast in bed? It’s a bit cliché, don’t you think?” I frowned. I thought it would be. I shouldn’t have gone through with all of it. She must have noticed the worry in my expression. She laughed and kissed my cheek, “I was kidding, I love it. I really do. but, you get me too much.”

“I like spoiling you,” I said trying to be cheeky. It worked she kissed my lips for a while and I let her be with her food as I got ready for sound check. When I came back, she was cleaning the scraps up and tidying up the room. I took her arms and wrapped them around my neck and pulled her up on my back. I ran out the room and up and down the hallway. She was laughing while I was shouting “WOO!” as loud as I could. When I got tired, I trotted back to our room and set her on the bed, she lay on her back, getting the last bit of laughter out.

“What was even the point of that?” she asked once she was calm.

“To make you smile.”

“Well, it worked. You’re quite a charmer Niall Horan.”

We heard a loud bang on the door. “Niall! It’s time to go!” Harry shouted from the other side.

“Coming!” I glanced at Lauren who was already hugging me.

“I’ll see you in a few hours,” I whispered.

“I know.”

“I love you,” I said planting a big kiss on her forehead.

“I love you, too.”

I headed out the door and asked the lads about my plan.

“Yeah, mate! We all can!” Zayn said with a smile.

But, what about Lou? El isn’t here.” Harry said.

“I’ll have her fly out here.” I said. I texted El quickly because Lou was on his way back over from the front desk. We decided not to tell him either and have it be a surprise for Lauren and Louis.

—

The show was to start soon and I couldn’t wait for the surprise. I was really nervous about it, too, especially after what happened with the fans in the hospital. The other girls helped Lauren with the hate, but she was still struggling a bit. I hope the fans are good to her. I really do. it was near the end of the show. We were getting ready for the grand finale. I glanced to the side of the stage to see Lauren, Danielle, Jane, and Perry all standing there supporting us. I winked at her and she blew me a kiss. I looked to the other side to see El approaching the curtain. I tapped on Liam’s shoulder and pointed in her direction. I smile stretched across his face and he looked at Zayn and Harry.

“Alright, everyone! We hope you had a good time tonight!” Liam said into his microphone facing the crowd. A roar of screams came back in response. “Unfortunately, this is going to be our last song. But, we’ve been waiting for this one all night. You see, we have a very special grand finale planned.” Lou gave me a confused look. I smiled at him and Liam continued.

“Except for our dear friend Harry here, we all are missing some very important people on this night of love. However, we would like to welcome to the stage: Danielle!”

Danielle made her way onto the stage smiling at the crowd. She planted a kiss on Liam’s cheek and the crowd cooed.

“Janey!” Jane did the same.

“Next we have: Perry!” Perry takes her place by Zayn.

“And a dear surprise for our friend, Lou: Eleanor!” Lou smiled as he saw El coming towards him. he ran to her and scooped her up off the ground. He kissed her cheek and set her down, still never letting go.

“And now,” Liam continued, “we have added a new addition to our dysfunctional family. I’m sure most of you have heard of her, although she’s been trying to keep low key. I’m so glad that she is here with us because she is a great friend and she’s made Niall here very happy. So, can everyone please, put your hands together for: Lauren!” I saw Lauren walk onto the stage. She was really nervous which only made her more adorable. I met her halfway and took her hand.

“Niall, I’m going to turn it over to you,” Liam said back behind him. I took her arm and walked forward on the stage.

“Alright, for this performance, we request that everyone stay absolutely silent. Starting now. can we do that?” the crowd hushed down before I could hear nothing but the sound of my heart.

“…Hi.” I said shyly turning to Lauren. There were a few giggles throughout the crowd but it was quiet quickly.

“Lauren, you’ve made the past couple months some of my absolute favorite times of my life. I felt awful about not being able to be with you so I proposed this idea to the lads. I’m sorry, I can tell hoe nervous you are.” She giggled along with others in the crowd. “But, I had you hear so I thought I would do this right.” All of the boys took a seat on amps or the couch with their girl. I pulled two stools up and had Lauren sit on one. I took a seat in the other one with my guitar. All together, we sang “Moments”. My gaze didn’t rest upon anything else besides Lauren. She began tearing up. By the end, she kissed me sweetly on the lips.

“I love you so much,” she whispered. I just pulled her in for another kiss and the crowd went insane.


	17. Chapter 17

We’ve been on tour for a while. We’ve made our way to the states now and Denver was just a few stops ahead. I figured I would take that time to visit Nate like he had requested in his letter. I didn’t want to tell Niall or even Lou about it because I know they would both become overprotective and freak out, so I turned to Liam.

“We’re just going out to lunch, Li.” I said to him while helping him make his bed. We were in an overly expensive hotel in Minneapolis. All of the girls went shopping but I hung back just to talk to him. Lou and Niall were still asleep while Haz and Zayn went for a swim. He fluffed his pillow before setting it against the headboard and returning his focus on me.

“He may think it’s more, Lauren. Or he may try to make it more.”

I rolled my eyes. “He said he has a fiancé, Taylor, remember?”

“That’s true,” he said still concerned. I smiled at him. “It’ll be fine, Liam.” My phone began to ring. I looked down to see Nate’s smiling face on my phone. I hit accept and pulled it to my ear.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Lauren, it’s Nate! I was just returning the call I got from you…?” it sounded more like a question than a statement.

“Hey, Nate,” I began. Liam shot his head up from the bag of toiletries he was packing up. I raised my eyebrows at him as a signal it was alright. He carried on but I could feel his watch on me still. “Yeah I was calling because the boys are on tour and we’re going to be in Denver soon.”

“Uh-huh,” he urged me to continue

“I was wondering if you wanted to meet up for lunch,” I said, a little hesitant. He chuckled through the other line. “Of course, I would! I’m the one that wanted to in the first place, remember?” I laughed and told him I did remember.

“So when are you going to be here?”

“The 24th”

“Okay hold on. Let me check just to make sure we’re not doing anything. Taylor?” I heard him yell a little more distant from the phone than before.

“Are doing anything on the 24th?” I heard him shuffling through papers. I then heard a woman’s voice, assuming it was Taylor, speak up, although I could barely hear her. “I don’t think so, babe. Why?”

“I want to meet up with an old highs school friend of mine. You remember me mentioning Lauren, right?” it was dead silent after that. I sat there feeling awkward waiting for him to speak up again. Finally he said something and I could feel relief wash over me.

“Lauren?” I hummed in response, trying to sound calmer then I really was.

“I can meet you at the hotel you’re staying at that day. I’ll pick you up and we can go out for lunch, sound good?” he sounded anxious.

“Sounds great,” I said still concerned about Taylor.

“Alright, text me when you find out what hotel you’ll be in. I got to go. Nice talking to you, though!”

“Bye.” I heard the dial tone after that and through my phone on the bed. That’s when I noticed Liam looking at me. I could see the concern on his face.

“Liam,” I started to protest but I was interrupted by his arms wrapping around me. I was startled by his embrace for a moment but wrapped my arms around him as soon as I could process what had happened.

“Please don’t hurt him,” Liam whispered over my shoulder. I pulled away to look into his eyes.

“Hurt who?”

“Niall” I was in disbelief. How could I hurt Niall? It wasn’t like I was going on a date and not telling him. I wanted to tell him when he woke up. I told Liam all of this and he still looked at me with those big brown eyes. He’s such a puppy I almost wanted to laugh. But his face was too sad to laugh. I heard the door creak open. “Liam have you seen Laur-,” Niall said when he enter the room in a raspy voice that made my heart jump. “Oh hey, darling, thought I lost you,” Niall said pulling me in and kissing my temple. I smiled like an idiot but he just smiled with me. I saw Liam’s concern drain from his face when he saw us and a bit of reassurance replace it. He smiled and nodded.

“What?” Niall asked, laughing through his grin.

“Nothing, you guys are just…”

“…GOREGEOUS,” Lou said bursting through the door. Niall smiled, I blushed and Liam rolled his eyes. “I thought I took your key card away,” Liam said to Lou making us all laugh.

“Harold was genius enough to leave his in the bathroom,” Lou sang. We all laughed before Niall spoke up in his raspy voice again. I didn’t hear what he said but I knew his voice was making me weak in my knees. I tapped his shoulder and brought my mouth to his ear. “Come back to the room with me,” I whispered. He gave me a confused look before he understood what I was saying.

“Sorry, lads, but we have to go,” Niall said grabbing my waist and rushing me out the door.

“Have fun banging!” Louis shouted from behind but I don’t think Niall noticed nor did he care. When we reached the room right across the hall from Liam’s he scooped me up bridal style and tossed me on the bed. He climbed over me and latched his lips on to mine, both of us laughing through the kiss. He slipped his tongue through my lips but I nudged him as a sign to stop. He gave me a look filled with confusion and frustration and I nudged him again and he swung himself to the side. “What’s wrong, baby? I thought you-”

“-I need to talk to you about something,” I said urgently. Worry filled in his eyes and he was silently pleading me to continue. I took in a bit of air before I spoke.

“We’re going to be in Denver in a week right?” he nodded. “So?”

“Well,” I said digging through my bag, “I got this letter from Nate when we were out there for my birthday.” I handed him the letter and his eyes frantically scanned the folded up piece of notebook paper. When he finished, his eyes were set on me. I couldn’t quite read them, although I didn’t like what they were saying. Whatever he was feeling, it wasn’t good. I took a seat next to him and scooted closer. “He called me today and I told him I would be able to get some lunch,” I said slowly as if I was talking to a child. I could recognize the look in his eyes now. Anger. Pure anger filled his eyes as they turned from a light blue to a cloudy gray. I tried to take his hand in mine but he flinched at my touch like it had just burned him. “Don’t touch me,” he said above a whisper. I felt hurt and so did he. After a moment, he stood up and grabbed his denim jacket and through it over his head. He grabbed the keys to his car and headed towards the door. “Where are you going?”

“Out. I need time alone,” he said harshly, not turning to look at me. I grabbed his arm to stop him but he ripped it out of my grasp. “I said don’t touch me!” he barked. He slammed the door behind him and I felt tears burning my eyes and running down my cheeks.


	18. Chapter 18

“Niall, wait!” I called for him as he marched down the hallway clenching his fists at his sides. “Niall, where do you even think you’re going?”

“I don’t know. Maybe I’ll go back to see an old friend of mine. Maybe we’ll start talking. Maybe we can go hang out and I just won’t tell my girlfriend about it!” we were standing in front of the elevator and he was frantically pushing the button over and over again.

“Niall it’s not like I planned on running into him at the ski lodge! It was your idea to go there in the first place!” he was pissing me off. I hated fighting with him but he was acting like such an ass.

“What? Are you kidding me? I only took you to the damn mountain because I knew how much you wanted to try and snowboard! I did it for you, damn it!” the elevator opened and he stormed inside of it. He hit the button and the doors closed in an instant. “Niall!” I said banging on the door.

“Lauren, what the hell is going on?” Lou said running from behind me and grabbing my arms. I pushed him off of me and ran down the stairs. I reached the lobby just in time to see a blonde quiff ducking into a yellow taxi. Harry and Zayn walked through the front door with confused looks. “Where the hell is he going?” Harry asked me.

“We have to leave for the airport by 11pm. That’s in 2 hours,” Zayn mumbled. I heard Liam and Louis come in from behind me. I looked back at Liam whose eyes were looking at me with fear and sadness. Just seeing him, I broke. I fell to the ground on my knees, sobbing into my hands. Lou grabbed me by the shoulders and pulled me up. “C’mon, sport. We can’t be making a scene now, can we?” he pulled me to my feet and wrapped his arm around me, walking me to the elevator. I still had my face in my hands while the boys followed Lou. We all sat in the elevator in silence. When we reached our floor, Lou took me into his room along with Liam while Harry and Zayn went to find Niall. When we closed the door to Louis’ room, Liam wrapped his arms around me. He whispered encouraging, positive thoughts in my ear, but it wasn’t helping.

“What the fuck even happened? You guys were fine just like 10 minutes ago,” Louis said. His blue eyes glistened with sadness and I couldn’t take it. I sat on the bed, still in Liam’s embrace, and explained it to Lou.

“Jesus Christ,” was all he responded with.

“Are you mad at me?” I said. I hated Lou being mad at me. I hated it. He smiled a bit and shook his head no. “I’m mad that you went to Liam instead of Niall, or even me, and I’m mad that he is overreacting. But, I’m not mad at you,” he said pulling me into a hug. “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” started playing off of Liam’s phone, signaling a call from one of the boys. All I saw on the phone was a bush of curly brown locks and I felt disappointment fall over me to not see Niall on the screen. “Harry?” Liam said answering the phone. It was silent as Harry spoke through the phone. “Where are you?” Another silence. “No, absolutely not.” Silence. “A lot,” he said bowing his head. Lou and I watched in anticipation. “Calm down, mate! She isn’t going to go if you don’t want her to! She just wants you to come back. She wants to talk to you.” Was he talking to Niall? “Ni, come back,” he said into the phone. I sprung from the bed and tried to take Liam’s phone but Lou held me back. “Ni, don’t h-” he froze mid-sentence. He sighed pulling the phone from his ear. “He hung up.” I stood up and darted from the room. I ran across the hall and into our- well I guess just my- room. I shut the latch on the door and collapsed onto the bed, tears streaming down my face. What the hell was I even thinking? I know how Niall gets about these things. I shouldn’t have even tried. But, I trust Nate. I have my whole life. So shouldn’t Niall? And even if he didn’t trust Nate, shouldn’t he trust me? He should know I would never cheat on him. I don’t care how they saw it. It wasn’t a date. I was catching up with an old good friend. a light tapping on my window pulled me from my thoughts. At first I thought it was the pouring down rain hitting the window but it was much too rough to be rain. I lifted myself from the bed and opened the curtain just enough for my eye to be peeking through. It was dark out and the rain made it even harder to see but it was all I needed to see. Niall was standing on the fire escape. His blonde hair was sticking to his forehead and his eyes were red and puffy but still held a beautiful blue. I carefully and slowly opened the curtain. I unlatched the window lock and fully opened the window. We stared at each other for a few minutes, before he brought his hands from behind his back to mine. He placed a red rose in my palm, careful not to pluck my hand with a thorn. We both looked at the flower in my hand for a moment before he spoke.

“I saw it in the park and it reminded me of our first official date,” he said in a slow murmur. I stared at him blankly. “Do you remember when I gave you the bouquet?” I nodded yes, fighting back a smile, only because he wasn’t smiling. “Niall I’m sor-” but I wasn’t able to finish. His wet face was against mine and we shared a long, slow kiss. I cupped his face in my hands, letting the rose fall to the stool I was leaning on. He climbed into the window, lips still intact with mine, and pressed his soaking wet body against mine. He pulled away, pushing my hands from his face but returning the gesture by taking my face in his hands. “Baby, please don’t be sorry. I overreacted. Liam was right.” I broke down again. I began to sob and I had no idea why.

“Hey stop it,” he said kissing each tear that rolled down my cheeks. He guided me towards the bed and he sat down then pulled me onto his lap. He cradled me like a child in his arms, shushing me and trying to calm me down. “Don’t cry, princess. Please don’t. That is exactly what drove me to come back. I hung up with Liam because he told me you were crying, a lot. I had been walking through the park, trying to think when I saw this little red rose resting in a bush. It instantly brought me back to that first date and then I thought about everything else. That night, the next morning, the trip, the accident, the hospital, the first moment you opened your eyes after the surgery, the hate you got from the fans, the tears. It all came back to the tears. Then I realized, I was the reason you were crying and what was I doing? Moping around about nothing in a park in the pouring rain. Now, how stupid did that sound? My girlfriend was sitting alone crying over me because I didn’t trust her like I should have been. I know I was being an ass. But, I only acted like that because Nate is so much better than me. He’s tall and attractive, he’s smart, he’s caring, and respectful. I was afraid he would take you away. I was afraid he would take away the most important thing in my life right now. However, the only reason I would lose you right now is because I wasn’t here. I left you alone when I should have been next to you. Please, please, stop crying, Lauren. I love you. I love you so much. I love you more than I love the fans, the music, the band, the boys, I even love you more than Nando’s! You’re my whole world. I know it sounds really cliché, but it’s true. I know everything I do in this relationship is cliché. I call you little nicknames, make you dinners, take you on trips, serenate a song for you, and a lot of other things. But I only do those cheesy things because I want to give you a fairytale for a life. And you know why? Because you truly are my princess.” I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. I wrapped my arms around his neck and crashed my lips into his. He grabbed my hips and lifted me up then carefully placing me on my back onto the bed. He bent down and latched his lips to mine again, pulling his jacket off of him. He stood up and pulled his shirt over his head, and I did the same. He leant down and kissed me again as clothes were being thrown in random spots. He had such passion and love it was truly incredible. It was slow and sweet, yet it was even more enjoyable. When we finished we pulled our clothes back on. We finished dressing and he pulled me into a big hug and kissed my cheek.

“I love you, too, Niall. I don’t think you’ll ever know how much I really do.” he smiled and kissed my nose. “Try me.”


	19. Chapter 19

We were in Houston, TX now. Everything seemed to be alright now, although Niall was avoiding the subject of Nate for the past few days. Quite frankly, I was glad he was. I hated every second of thinking he was just the slightest bit upset with me. I hated when we fought and I didn’t want to go through it again. I decided to myself that I would call Nate and tell him I couldn’t go. I would tell him that it was my decision not to go, which was partially true. I would tell him that I wasn’t sure about it because I didn’t want to cause any trouble, not only between Ni and I but between him and Taylor as well. I would also make sure to remind him that he will always be one of my best friends and that I would be there for him whenever. I would remind him that I love him, like a brother or friend, of course, and that he can count on me and trust me with anything. I wanted to see him while we were out there, but it wasn’t worth the trouble it was causing. Niall was first, and he always will be. We were on our way to a “surprise” Lou and Zayn had in store for the rest of us. Paul drove us in a big van with ten seats. There were the two front seats, two seats in the front middle row, three seats in the back middle row, and three in the very back. Lou and Zayn took the front middle seats. I was squished in between Niall and Liam in the front back. Jane sat next to Harry and Danielle in the back. Finally, Perrie was in front with Paul.

“You boys are absolutely ridiculous you know that,” Paul said keeping his eyes on the road. All Lou and Zayn did in response was share a snicker.

“Guys, where exactly are we going?” Jane said from the back. A few of us threw in a “yeah” to show the same curiosity Jane had. The two imbeciles in front of us just kept smiling and giggling. As we traveled farther along the road, we had reached a spot in town where all of the department stores were. That’s when Zayn and Louis shot their heads back to look at us.

“Well, we were out getting breakfast yesterday,” Lou started.

“And we saw a place that made us think of Liam.” Zayn continued.

“We heard him say once he had only gone here once in his life, and we thought he was missing out on so much,” Lou said with a smirk. Just then, Paul pulled into a parking lot where a green, purple, and tan building. “Tada!” they both shouted in unison.

“Chuckie Cheese? Really, guys, really?” Harry smirked

“Yes, Styles! Chuckie fucking Cheese. We are all going to march ourselves in there like the adults, and once we get our hands stamped,” Lou said pointing to the back of his hand, “we will run around and scream and let loose like the immature pricks we are.”

“We will play in the ball pit, and go down the slides and through the tunnels,” Zayn continued, both of them speaking like motivational speakers.

“We will play the games, win the tickets, and get pointless, cheap plastic prizes, even though we can go buy them at the dollar store.” Louis finished off. Jane and I were giggling by now and Niall pinched my cheeks. Harry rolled his eyes and laughed. Liam, however, was already out of his seat belt and was trying to squish past Zayn and Lou.

“Well? What are we waiting for? Let’s go!” he said jumping out of the car. Paul was quick on his feet and grabbed Liam.

“C’mon, Li, you’re my sensible one. Wait and hang back a second. Everyone else has got to get out, too,” he said with a smile. Liam huffed out a sigh which made me giggle again. It was fun seeing this side of Liam. We all climbed out and Liam was quick to get to the door, and we all sprinted behind him. Finally, Danielle took hold of Liam and took his hand. “Calm down, baby. We’ll be in there soon.” She said giggling at him. He tried to look mad but couldn’t because Danielle was smiling at him and that’s all he needed. He took hold of her waist and pulled her in for a kiss. When we walked in, there were only a few kids there. I wouldn’t expect anything less considering it was a Tuesday and it was noon. The girl standing at the ‘hand stamp’ counter had her face buried in her phone when we walked in. we stood there for a couple minutes before Liam got impatient again. “Excuse me?” he said in the most courteous way he could. The girl held up her finger and told us to wait. “Fine,” Lou said rolling his eyes, “c’mon Zayn, Niall, Liam, Harry…” that’s when the girl shot her head up. Lou shot a smug smile at me and I just shook my head. The clever bastard. “Oh. My. God. You’re… you guys are…” she couldn’t find the words to speak. Finally she let out a high pitched squeal which caught everyone’s attention.

“Shit,” Niall muttered. Harry took a hold on either side of her arms. “Yes, ma’am, we’re very much aware of who we are. But listen, we just want to have a normal afternoon, just the nine of us hanging out. Okay?” She was already melting just from his hands touching her. She nodded yes, still not being able to speak coherent words. Zayn handed her the money to get in and she stamped are hands. They all gave her kind smiles and they took a picture with her. She handed me the camera. “Would you mind, Lauren? Please?” I happily obliged. I was still getting used to the fact that people knew who I was and knew my name, so I was a little giddy when she addressed me personally. I smiled and held up her camera phone. “Smile!” The camera made a clicking noise along with the flash and they all moved from their posed positions. “Thank you!” she said. She took a glance at her phone and her eyes widened a bit. “Something wrong?” I asked. She looked up at me and instinctively shook her head. “No, not at all. I’m just surprised on how good the picture actually looks considering the lighting we were under and the quality of the camera. Do you work in photography?” I was surprised by her question. I had always had an interest in photography but I never did anything with it. “Actually, no. I’m a teacher aid at a pre-school back home in England.

“Oh, well you should be.” And with that she left us all standing there. Well, not all of us. Really, it was just Ni, Lou, and I. Liam left the second his and Danielle’s hands were stamped. They were over at the jackpot ticket machine. Zayn and Perrie were on the motorcycle game and were racing each other. Harry was on stage dancing with Chuckie, making Jane laugh. So the three of us went and sat at one of the big party tables, with a worker’s permission, and ordered a couple pizzas. After that, Lou ran over to the ball pit and started jumping around. I went off not too far from Lou and started shooting baskets. I used to be very good at basketball, but I hadn’t played in forever. I made a few but also missed some. Soon, I felt hands grabbing my waist from behind me and I shuttered a bit at the touch. “Sorry, love. I didn’t mean to scare you.” Niall muttered over my shoulder, “But you looked like you could use some help.” I scoffed at him and I felt him roll his eyes at me. “Here,” he said, “Put your arm up like this and cock your elbow this way,” he said coiling his arms around mine. You know, like the way the guys do it in cheesy high school films. “Is this one of those cheesy things you do?” I asked him laughing. He laughed with me and nodded. “Only for you, princess.” He said pressing his lips to my cheek. He “helped” me shoot a few more baskets but he felt a tug on his sweater underneath his arm. We both looked down to see a little girl standing there. she had wide brown eyes and long, straight brown hair. She had a white shirt on with a little pink skirt and a pink bow in her hair. There was a little sequined flower in the center of her shirt and she had a terrified look on her face. She didn’t look older than four years old. Her eyes were a bit puffy and red around the outline. Niall dropped down into a crouched position and looked this little girl straight in the eyes. “Are you alright?” he asked her, his voice soft.

“I was playing the fishy game over there and then I lost my mommy. Did she leave?” she choked out in between the little tears falling down her cheeks. Niall smiled a bit but his eyes looked sad. “No, sweetie, I’m sure your mummy didn’t leave you here.” I know it seems a little weird to not be able to find a mom in a Chuckie Cheese restaurant, especially with very few people in it. But this one was bigger than most of the ones that I’ve seen. It had a big play set right in the middle and it had tunnels reaching every end of the joint. The little girl muffled her cries with sniffles and Niall looked so sad watching this. He held out his hand and she took three of his fingers in her fist. “C’mon, ‘et’s go fine your mum.” We walked to the other end of the building where the long tables were. We saw a woman rushing out of the bathroom then and looked relieved to see us walking. “Hope! I told you to stay by the fishy game!” the girl immediately stopped crying and let go of Niall’s fingers. She waddled over to the woman and held her arms out. She wrapped her arms around he mom’s neck, who was now crouching on the ground just like Niall had been before. She picked up her daughter and told her to listen next time and the girl nodded. That’s when she looked at Niall and I. she had a look in her eyes. She looked tired, or maybe grateful. “Thank you for helping her. The little squirt is always running off,” she said tickling Hope’s tummy. She let out a high pitched squeal which made Niall giggle. I smiled and he took a hold of my hand. “No problem,” Niall said adjusting his snapback, “See, I told you your mum didn’t leave you!” he said flashing a cute smile at the little girl. She returned the gesture and her mom gave a smile herself. “What do you say to the nice man?” the mom asked Hope. “Thank you, mister.” She sang. Niall nodded.

“Well, we better get going. We got to pick up Tyler from school. Bye, thanks again!” and with that, the mom walked away with Hope and out the door. But before they left, Hope looked over her mom’s shoulder and smiled at us. She blew a kiss at Niall and he blew her one back which made her giggle. After that, they were both out of sight. Niall turned to me and smiled. We walked back to our game hand in hand. I’ve never seen Niall act that way. It made me feel butterflies in my stomach seeing him play with the little girl. The way he smiled at her and took her hand and blew her a kiss made me feel great. I don’t know how else to explain it. Even the way he looked sad when she was crying, it showed how much he actually cared. He would make a great parent someday. Maybe we would make great parents together. As we were walking back to the game, I noticed Louis standing outside the window. He had his phone pressed to his ear, and a bit of a scowl on his face. Niall noticed too. “Maybe we should go check on him,” he said still looking at him. “No, no, I’ll go.” He patted my back and I stepped outside through the doors. His back was turned to me and he was muttering into the phone. He was rocking back and forth like he couldn’t keep still. He dropped his phone from his ear to just below his waist and tapped it with a sigh. “Hey, champ.” I said squinting through the sunlight hitting my eyes. He spun around and looked at me and shrugged. “Hey,” was all he said. I took a seat on the floor pressing my back up against the brick wall in the shade. I patted the spot next to me and he plopped himself down. He laid his head on my shoulder and we sat in silence for a few moments. “So, are you going to tell me what’s wrong or do I have to guess?” I asked him.

“I miss El.”

“Well, my guess would have been right. I know you so well,” I said smiling, trying to make him smile too. He didn’t. I sighed and patted his head.

“Chin up, buttercup. You can talk to her tonight. Just like you did all those other nights we were on tour.”

“It’s not the same! I want to be able to kiss her goodnight, not just say it. I want to be able to kiss her good morning and not just text it. It’s just not the same,” he whispered the last sentence. I put an arm over his shoulder and pulled him in closer and kissed his head. I whispered encouraging words into his ears like “it’ll be fine” and “you’ll see her soon”. Things like that. That’s when I heard him sniffle. “Are you crying, Lou?”

“No! I’m not. I just have a runny nose,” he said weakly. I smiled at him and he returned a sick kind of smile back. “I love you, Tommo.”

“I love you too, sport.” I gave him the offer of hanging out with Niall and me today, but he refused. “No, you guys are still in that make-up phase after the fight. I’m gonna give you two some space.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” I rolled my eyes but I let him do what he wanted to do. When we went back inside, the group was gathered around the table eating pizza and drinking soda. I took my seat next to Niall who had a piece of cheese on the corner of his mouth. “Let me get that for ya,” I said laughing. I kissed his lips and wiped the cheese off with my thumb. He was smiling at first but then his face became a little pink when he realized what I meant. I looked around and saw everyone smiling and laughing. Even Lou, who was talking to Paul, had a small grin on his face. I saw Liam and Jane thumb wrestling at one end of the table and Zayn playing with Perrie’s pink hair at the other end. Niall was telling corny jokes with Harry while Danielle was cheering on Liam in his game. I had never looked at them like I was in that moment. We were a family. But, not like any other. We didn’t fight (not very often). We didn’t see each other occasionally. We all came from different stories and backgrounds. We were all so different. But at the same time, we were alike in a lot of ways too. I was smiling to myself about it when Niall was looking at me.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked me giving me the same smile I was wearing. I thought about it for a minute before I answered him.

“Our family,” I said looking around the table. He smiled and took my hand under the table and kissed my cheek.


	20. Chapter 20

Well, there we were: Denver. The last time we were here, I split my head open, had a birthday party, met up with old friends, and stayed in a lovely hotel suite with the man I love for over three weeks. Overall, it was a pretty great time minus the head injury. But now that we were here, the whole trip was filled with tension and uneasiness – mostly from Niall – but the other boys seemed a bit apprehensive about being here too. Ni and I had talked about it on the way here, and boy was it a long talk, about whether I should go see Nate. In the end, we both agreed on seeing him, even though I knew Niall wasn’t too happy about it. We did our best not to argue and we looked at in from the other’s point of view and he understood I trusted him. As we were crossing the border into Denver, my phone vibrated between the clutch of my fingers and I slid open the lock screen to find a text from Nate: How did it go?

to Nate: we talked a while, but he’s allowing me to go

from Nate: …is he mad?

I had to think about that. I didn’t believe he was mad about it, just nervous. He told me he didn’t want me to go because in all honesty, Nate never had a problem with convincing people to do things his way. he had great looks and charm and could easily win anyone over.

to Nate: not mad, nervous

from Nate: should I be nervous?

to Nate: no worries, just be on your best behavior

from Nate: you know me better. I’m not gonna do anything

to Nate: I know, but he doesn’t, and I need the slate to be clean. I gotta go but I’ll see you at noon tomorrow, yeah?

from Nate: yep. See ya thenJ

I put my phone in the front pocket of my hoodie and looked up to see Niall curled up in a ball on the couch of the tour bus next to me with his head pushed up against a neck pillow. He had a drop of drool threatening to fall from his plump pink lips. I wasn’t surprised he was sleeping as well as the other boys. It was 10:30 pm here and they had just come back from a performance. I take a good look at all of the boys in the room. Harry was lying on Liam’s arm on the couch across from us and in the arm chair nearby Louis was sprawled out, his head against the back with his one foot on the floor and the other hanging over the edge of the arm with his arms folded across his chest, his hair in disarray. I smiled at the sight thinking of the little six year old sleepy Lou I’d seen in pictures at Jay’s house plenty of times before. The four boys light snores echoed one another in the small space that was the tour bus. That’s when I realized Zayn was nowhere in near. I trotted towards the kitchen area; my legs limp because I had been sitting in Niall’s arms for the past four hours. As I entered the other half of the tour bus, I saw him sitting at the booth with his head down buried in his phone. He had his earphones in and I could hear the faint beat of music from five feet away. His back was to me and I saw an opportunity. I quietly tip-toed towards the boy and grasped his shoulders, making him jump and let out a loud short breath and some profanities. “Fucking hell!” he whisper yelled. I smiled at my triumph and slid into the booth across from him. He looked up at me his eyes dark with annoyance and shook his head using a fake scowl to hide the smile I saw in the corner of his mouth. “You scared the shit out of me, Lauren.” I just let my giggle escape and he couldn’t hide his smile any longer. He beamed at me and pulled his earphones out. “Can’t sleep?” he asked me. I nodded. I didn’t know why exactly. “Why not?”

“I don’t know.”

“Guilty conscience, maybe? About going to see that friend of yours when you know that Niall is not happy about it?” he was right. That was why. I just didn’t want to admit it I guess.

“No need to be a smartass about it,” I said in a tsk tsk way.

He just smirked. “Sorry, but why are you going if you feel guilty about it?”

“Well, Nate’s my friend and I miss him and he helped me through some pretty deep shit.”

“Well, if Nick-”

“Nate,” I corrected.

“Whatever, if he was your friend, why didn’t he try to stay in touch with you? If he cared about you as much as he did?”

“Well, it’s hard to stay in touch with someone who lives on the other side of an ocean give or take a few hundred more miles because we were in fucking Denver. There was not an ocean in sight from there.” he chuckled a bit but his eyebrows furrowed again. He grunted. And he looked at me with a look I had never seen him make before, not at me anyway. “Lauren, I just don’t want him to hurt you, love,” he said in a soft tone. His eyes were now a milk chocolate color. “I know,” was all I said.

“No one on this bus wants you hurt and I can definitely speak for all five of us when I say that if he even tries to use a stupid motherfucking pickup line or a dumbass shoulder brush, we’ll pound him.” I roll my eyes and he lets out a not too loud cackle.

“I’m serious. We all love you here, Niall especially. The poor kid hasn’t drooled so much over someone since his ex-girlfriend.” I got up from my seat across from him and crashed down on the empty space next to him. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and thanked him for looking out. He wriggled about at first but eventually gave in and put his left arm around my back. “You’re welcome,” he whispered.

“Rest up, buttercup. You guys got a show tomorrow.” He waved his hand in the air signaling a ‘yeah, yeah, yeah’ and I walked my way back to the sleeping boys in the other room. I walked over to Niall as quietly as I could and stood in front of him. I bent down and attached my lips to his for a quick peck. His eyes lazily fluttered only half way open before a sleepy smile stretched across his face. “ ‘mere,” was all he managed to get out and I plopped down next to him and he wrapped his blanket around my shoulders along with his arm. I curled up into the fetal position resting my head on his chest. He kissed my head and ruffled my hair a bit before drifting off into his slumber again and I did the same.

—

Niall drove me to the little café I was meeting Nate at in a rental car. I could tell the whole ride he was anxious about the whole thing as he tapped his fingers against the gear shift quite loudly. I rested my hand on top of his and used my thumb to rub soothing circles over his knuckles and I felt him loosen up his grip just a bit. We pulled into the parking lot and sat there for a minute in silence.

“Can you at least let me walk you in there?” he asked me, his baby blue eyes giving me a pleading look. He had a navy blue and white snapback on backwards over his rustled blonde hair. We had talked about him joining us for lunch but I told him it’d be a dick move just showing up and inviting himself and that made him a little mad when I said it. He reluctantly agreed on it being just Nate and I in the end. I felt like I had to give him at least this so I nodded and we both undid our seatbelts. We walked in hand-in-hand and the waiter pointed us towards the booth Nate was already sitting in. As we got closer, Nate looked up from his phone and flashed us a bright smile and waved us over. I felt Niall’s hand grip mine so tight I thought he might break a bone. I winced under his squeeze and he muttered and apology and loosened up a bit. “Hey guys! Long time no see!” Nate said when we reached his table. I smiled at him but Niall just gave him a glare. All of us were quite aware of the tension in the room and how Niall felt on this subject and Nate acting all cheeky wasn’t helping anything. He held his hand out to shake Niall’s but Niall just continued glaring at him. I lightly elbowed his side with the hand he was gripping and he glanced at me before raising his other hand and meeting it with Nate’s. He shook it and Nate winced the tiniest bit at the grip Niall had but quickly shook it off.

“Well uh, I uh better get goin’ ‘cause um we have sound check and shit in a half hour so,” Niall trailed off. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed my lips. I rested my hands on his shoulders and he managed to slip his tongue between our lips, obviously trying to prove a point to Nate who just sat there and tried not to look at us. I was mad about what Ni was doing but I didn’t stop him because holy fuck he was a good kisser. When he finally let me go, after about half a minute of his tongue dancing in my mouth, he let go reluctant on letting go of my hand.

“Bye,” he whispered. I nodded at him and blew him a kiss as he walked out the glass door.

“Well, he likes to put on quite the show doesn’t he,” Nate said as I sat down. I shrugged it off and he just laughed at me. “But you didn’t mind one bit did you, Laur?” he laughed and I

Couldn’t help but laugh either. “Slut,” he muttered under his breath and my mouth dropped open pretending to be upset but my giggle escaped and he laughed with me.

*Niall’s POV*

“Paul, We’re going to be a little late for sound check. We got held up in traffic after dropping Lauren off,” I said into the phone as Zayn rolled his eyes climbing into the front seat. I hung up the phone and Zayn glared at me. “Ni, this is a stupid idea. She’s going to catch you and then you’ll look like a dick.” I shook off Zayn’s warning. Zayn had met me down the street from the café in his car and we were sitting outside the restaurant watching Nate and Lauren on their “lunch”. I knew this was making me look like a dick and I knew this was something they would do in a corny episode on some Disney show but I didn’t care. This was the only way to do it in my eyes. I simply put a finger up at Zayn to tell him nothing would change my mind so Zayn slumped back into his chair and watched me stare intently through the window. A half hour had gone by and I had watched them do nothing but talk, eat, and occasionally laugh. “Ni, the check just came by. They made it through without any slip ups now can we please just go?” Zayn pleaded from the passenger’s side. I was ready to give up too. The seat in the car was becoming really fucking uncomfortable and I knew I could trust Lauren. As I began to pull out, Nate and Lauren stood from their seats and embraced each other and it made me sick to my stomach. “Woah, woah, Zayn look!” I shouted at my mate as I watched Nate lower his hand on her shoulder to the small of her back. I was about to jump out of the car when Lauren pulled away, knowing what he was doing. She smiled at him promptly before trying to walk out when he grabbed her right below her elbow and pulled her towards him. and he fucking did it. He fucking did it. He crashed his lips onto her and I swear my heart fell from its spot underneath my ribcage and crashed down breaking every bone in my body. Zayn and I were already dashing to the café door and I saw through the window she was trying to push him off of her but he wouldn’t budge. We slammed open the glass door nearly shattering it and I was lost with my words so Zayn did the talking. “Hey! Yeah you! Ya bastard!” Lauren was petrified now and I could see tears running down her cheek and the first thing I wanted to do was hold her. “Who the hell are you?” Nate yelled back in reply as we marched closer. I probably should have picked someone like Liam to come with me because Nate was really tall and Zayn and I were the shortest of the group. Nate probably had half a head on me and a full head on Zayn.

“Niall, I di- I didn’t do a-” Lauren was stammering for words but I rushed over her and wrapped my arms around her. “It’s okay baby. I know. I know. Just calm down.” I turned my back for one fucking second only to hear Zayn crashing into tables behind me. I turned to see him lying on the ground - tables sideways around him - clutching his eye. “You son of a bitch!” Zayn shouted at him. There were a lot of people watching us from other tables now but no one seemed to be stopping it. He fucking kissed Lauren and then punched Zayn. No. that was it. I brought my fist behind my head and nailed him in the face. He clutched his nose as I took my knee to his gut and he dropped to the floor. I grabbed Lauren by her waist and hoisted Zayn from the ground telling him to take her to the car. I watched them dash through the door and turned around to see Nate standing there, nose bleeding. He had his hands up trying to signal me to stop but I didn’t. I took my fist to his face again but he stopped it and slammed it back into my mouth. I cried out in pain but quickly regained my composure and kicked him right where he deserved it, hoping I made it so he couldn’t have any children. He yelped out like a girl and dropped to the floor clutching his dick. “Stay away from my girlfriend! And don’t you ever ever try to even lay a hand on my mates again! Because next time you’ll get it much worse than just a kick in the balls!” I marched myself out of there and quickly to the car to join Lauren and Zayn. Lauren was sobbing in the back seat with the door open while Zayn was kneeling down in front of her trying to soothe her. I tapped his shoulder and he looked up at me, quickly noticing the bloody lip I had. “You alright?” I asked him. He already had a black and purple mark forming in the corner of his eye. He just made a face that said ‘you think I can’t handle a simple blow to the eye?’ and I smiled at him. “You?” he asked. I nodded and he went to the driver’s seat and I took his place in front of Lauren. “Niall, your lip,” she began but I stopped her by kissing her lips. I pulled away but kept my forehead on hers and smiled at her, rubbing my thumb over her cheek to wipe any tears away. I then climbed into the car and cradled her against my chest, while Zayn pulled out of the parking lot and down the road to meet up with the others for sound check.


	21. Chapter 21

Niall’s POV

We rode in the car with Zayn driving and Lauren and I in the back. She had been letting out sniffles and I felt awful. I mean, we probably didn’t need to go and hit the guy, but I was just so fucking pissed off. Not only did he kiss her, but he forced it on her. She tried to break away but he wouldn’t let go. I was not always one to get angry. It was very rare in fact. But, not this time. No one and I mean  _no one_  lays a hand on my girl without her permission.

“You okay, babe?” I asked her softly, snuggling her closer, her head burying into my neck. I feel her nod against my shoulder and I run my hand up and down her back and kiss her hair. “I’m sorry, Lauren,” I whispered into her hair.

“Yeah, I’m sorry too, love,” Zayn said glancing back at us, “I probably shouldn’t have started a fight.” Zayn pushed Nate back lightly telling him to back the fuck off but Nate thought punching him would get him away.

“It’s fine, thank you Zayn,” she said looking at him through the rear view mirror. He beamed at her and I smiled at her too.

“Thank you,” she whispered looking up at me. I entwined our fingers in her lap and kissed her hand. “Just doing my job, darling.”

“I love you, Ni.”

“Awesome,” I said smiling. She gave me a pouty face and I kissed her pursed lips into a smile. “I love you too. I’d think you know that by now,” I said with a wink. She giggled through her tears and it sounded so hopeful, like she was trying so hard to be happy. “I’m really sorry, Ni. I didn’t think he would do that, and we were fine until-”

“Sh, love, it’s okay. It’s fine. I’m not mad at all. Not at you, anyway.”

“Lauren, I told you last night if he tries anything, we’d pound him,” Zayn said laughing. She laughed too and so I laughed because everything seemed comfortable.

—

When we got to sound check, the boys stared at Zayn and me in astonishment. My lip was plump and a bit swollen and had a bit of blood on it still while Zayn’s eye was getting blacker and blacker with every minute. “What the hell happened?” Harry asked looking at us.

“That dumb fuck kissed Lauren that’s what happened,” Zayn said defensively. Louis rushed his way behind me and pulled Lauren into a hug.

“Are you okay?” I heard him whisper to her behind me. I turned my attention to Liam who was examining my lip. “You’re going to have a good bruise. Zayn you’ll be lucky with just a bruise. But, from the looks of it, it’s going to be a black eye.”

“Did you guys really have to go and start a fight?” Lou said annoyed with arm wrapped around Lauren’s shoulder. She had her arm around his waist and he was holding her so tight. Louis must be pissed. I could just tell.

“Actually,” Zayn said stepping forward, “it was my fault. I pushed him and then he punched me. That’s how it started anyway. I’m sorry, you guys.”

“No, don’t be sorry,” Liam said patting his back.

“Yeah, you did a good thing,” Harry agreed.

“The bastard deserved it,” Louis muttered.

“What in the bloody hell happened to you two?” Paul asked, eyebrows raised, when he walked into the room.

We told him the story and he just shook his head. “You guys are going to get a lot of media attention for it,” he said rubbing his head.

“We know,” I said lowering my head a bit.

“Are you hurt, love?” Paul paced to where Louis and Lauren were standing and put a hand on her shoulder.

“No,” she whispered quietly.

“It’s not your fault, Lauren,” Louis sighed. That is when I realized she was probably thinking that from the moment he kissed her. She knew how much trouble we would be in with Paul. She knew how much media attention we would get. She knew the boys would be upset. She knew for sure management wouldn’t like it.

“Don’t dial it down, Lou,” she said squirming out of his grasp, “it is my fault. I’m going to go lie down.” She speed walked herself towards the tour bus and we all watched.

“Lauren, wait!” I ran after her after she reached the door, “I’ll be right back.”

When I was inside, I saw her, legs tucked into her chest, sobbing into her knees on the couch. I sat down next to her and ran my hand up and down her back, kissing her shoulder and her temple.

“I’m sorry Niall. I’m just really fucking sorry,” she said through her tears.

“Stop it. Stop it right now, damn it. There’s nothing for you to be sorry for. I know you didn’t want to kiss him and I know you didn’t. It’s fine.”

“I shouldn’t have trusted him.”

Of course, I knew that. I knew that from the beginning. But, she really wanted to see him. He was her friend after all.

“I didn’t think he would do anything,” she said after a few minutes.

“I know, baby,” I said petting her hair and pulling her head to my chest. She looked up at me and I smiled at her and pressed a kiss to her lips.

“I love you,” I whispered to her.

“Awesome,” she said mocking me and I let out a quiet snicker.

“Yep,” I said lightly, poking her nose. Her face scrunched up in the cutest way when her phone began to ring. She pulled it out to see Nate’s face and she looked up at me. I took the phone from her hands and pressed accept.

“I told you I didn’t want to hear from you again. Now back the fuck off.” I said and before he could even respond I ended the call and handed it back to Lauren.

I smiled down at her and she smiled back a little bit but it was a very artificial smile.

“I’m sorry,” I said pouting.

“It’s fine, I’m glad you did that. It was funny. I just…he was my best friend for so long, ya know? He did an awful thing and I don’t know if I can ever forgive. I know you can’t but…I don’t know. That’s not the Nate I knew before. And he was fine the whole time. He didn’t talk about anything inappropriate. He just talked about his family and mine. He told me his mother was doing better and his brother was playing basketball for U of A now. He told me that he was still keeping in touch with my family. So, I’m expecting a call from them about it soon.”

Shit, Lauren’s mother always found me charming, and her dad liked me because I was Irish. But, that family saw Nate as the son they never had. We never really met face to face. Lauren would send them videos on how she was doing and had an introduction for all of us when the band started. Lauren moved out to London because of an exchange program with her school and after being there for a while, she convinced her mother to let her stay with her Uncle Jim and Aunt Laura. They had two little girls who adored us and it was so cute. She was so good with the girls and it was so incredibly cute. Bottom line is, her parents will probably hate me after this and I know they won’t like the fact that I’m dating her.

“Will they be mad?” I asked her nervously.

“Honestly,” she said shrugging her shoulders, “I have no idea.” I nodded and she probably saw how upset I was so she kissed my lips into a smile. “But, I don’t care if they are. Thank you, Ni. You’re making this all a bit easier.”

“No problem, love.”

There was a knock at the door and Lou poked his head in with his hands over his eyes.

“You guys aren’t having sex are you?” he asked not uncovering his eyes. I chuckled and Lauren giggled. Lou peeked through one of his fingers and let out a sigh of relief and then looked at Lauren. “Hey, kiddo, you mind if I chat with your boyfriend a minute?” she shook her head no and planted a kiss to my cheek, sending shivers down my spine, and made her way out the door.

Once she was gone, Louis rushed over and hugged me so tight I thought I might break.

“Thank you, man,” was all he said to me I smiled into his shoulder and nodded, patting his back pretty hard.

“You alright?”  I asked him. Lou was never this sappy. Not with me, anyways.

“Yeah, except it really pisses me off you know? That kid was jealous of me when Lauren first mentioned me and has been ever since. Because, when he wasn’t there, I was. He said he couldn’t be there because Lauren left him in the dust. That’s what he said in the hospital. And I was ready to throw down on him but Hazza stopped me. I couldn’t tell Lauren what he had said because I knew it would kill her. I just let them have their time to reminisce and move on after that. And now, he has got to go and fuck everything up. I could not have picked someone better for Lauren than you and he was going to ruin it.”

“He isn’t ruining anything. Lauren and I are fine. More than fine, in fact.”

“I don’t care. He knew he was risking it!” he started getting pissed and I knew I had to settle him down.

“Calm down, Lou. It’s over now.” He nodded and hugged me again.

“Thanks, Niall.”

“Anytime, Louis.”

We both exited the bus to see the boys, Paul and Lauren gone but to only be replaced by Nate. The fucking nerve that boy had being down here was stupendous.

“I thought the message was clear, dipshit,” Louis said as we approached Nate. He had a swollen cheek and was still walking funny from when I kicked him.

“Nice to see you again, too, Lou,” he said giving a devilish smile.

“Don’t call me Lou,” he muttered back but I don’t think Nate heard him.

“I just want to apologize,” he said turning to me now.

“I don’t want to hear it.”

“Good, because I was not talking about you. Where is she?”

“That’s for me to know and you to find out.” I said bitterly. I really didn’t know where they went though.

“Go away, Nathan.” Louis said stepping in front of me. I guess Louis needed his time to feel like a hero to so I let him.

“No, I want to talk to her.”

“You had your chance to talk to her. And you blew it. I don’t want you near either of my best friends. Especially Lauren.

 “Um, did I say I gave a fuck about what you wanted me to do? Move out of my way, faggot,” Nate said pushing Louis to the side.

“What did you just call him?” Harry asked through his teeth from behind us, Liam and Zayn close behind.

“Great,” Nate muttered under his breath. Liam was standing a bit farther back than the other lads and I saw Lauren behind him.

All four of us stood in a line, Liam close by, with our arms folded across our chests. We looked sort of like a gang, which I thought was pretty cool. Nate’s expression changed when all of us were there because we probably looked a bit intimidating. We looked so badass I felt proud of us.

His face dropped and he gave us a pleading look and I saw Lauren peek over Liam’s shoulder.

“Can I please, please, just apologize to her?”

“Yes.” All of us turned to give Lauren stern looks but she just shook her head.

“Look, I don’t want to have to deal with this anymore. I just want it to be done with and the only thing that will make it slightly better for all of us is that he gets to apologize.”

“Lauren,” Louis hissed.

“Louis, it is fine. Come on, Nate,” she said tugging on his arm towards the tour bus. He stuck his tongue out as they walked away. I wanted to punch him but Lauren must have seen what he did because she ran back to me.

“I forgot something,” she said smiling up at me. I smiled back knowing that look and cupped her face in my hands and kissed her lips softly. She ran her hands up my arms and I locked my around her waist, rubbing circles into the small of her back. I saw Nate roll his eyes which only made me pull her closer.

“I love you,” I whispered.

“I love you more,” she said a bit more loudly making me laugh.

—

“Come on, Niall. We have to get ready for the show,” Liam gave me an apologetic look while tugging on my arm. We obviously had skipped sound check (we didn’t really need it that much anyway) to deal with this fiasco. So, there I sat, outside the tour bus, waiting for Lauren and Nate to finish speaking.

“They’ve been in there for twenty minutes,” I said dropping my head.

“Hey, are we really going to go through this again? She’s probably telling him off right now. And I think if I were in his shoes, I would need more than just a couple minutes to apologize for kissing another man’s girl. Plus, whether you like it or not, she means a lot to him. He’s probably just trying to iron things out. It’ll be fine, Ni,” he said patting my back. I nodded and he asked me if I wanted to wait a few more minutes. Before I could answer, the door to the bus whipped open and Nate marched his way out. He stopped in front of me and scratched the back of his head. “I’m not expecting you to forgive me, I know I wouldn’t, but I am sorry, Niall. I was way out of line,” he said nervously. I nodded at him and just nodded back. I didn’t want to be dick because he was giving me a genuine apology. But, there was no way in hell I was just going to let it all blow over. He turned to Lauren who had been behind him watching us the whole time.

“I’m really sorry, Lauren.” She nodded as well and he just nodded again. She was apparently on the same grounds as I was. “I guess I’ll go then,” he said walking off. Lauren took her stance by me and we watched her friend walk away with a wave. I knew what she was thinking and I knew it would make her happy so I said it: “Go” she looked at me for any signs of doubt but I just nodded.

“Nate, wait!” she ran after him and he turned around and a small smile stretched his face and he wrapped his arms around her shoulders. She did the same and I saw a smile on her face and I actually felt happy about it too. He buried his face into her neck a minute and then looked over at me over her shoulder. ‘Thank you’ he mouthed. I nodded and gave him the tiniest smile. He let her go at an appropriate time I thought and waved bye. She walked backwards waving at him, “Bye, Nathan” before he got in his car nearby and drove off. She turned to me then and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling at the short hairs and kissed me with everything she had it seemed like. “Thank you,” she whispered.

“You’re welcome.” She pecked me on my lips one more time and started giggling into the kiss.

“I love you so much,” I whispered tightening my grip around her.

“Ditto.”  After that, Lauren, Liam, and I walked to the boys who were backstage and everything seemed somewhat normal. Our makeup artists did a good job hiding our injuries and soon we were on stage with Lauren watching from the curtain.

—

“Hey, mates, look” I said in our dressing room while Lauren went to the bathroom. I pulled the 24 karat diamond, princess cut ring from my pocket and the boys huddled around it in pure awe.

“Only if it’s okay with you, mate,” I said looking up at Lou.

“It’s time,” he said nodding with a smile bigger than the moon. And he was right, It was time.


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

*Niall’s POV*

She reentered our dressing room after going to the bathroom and getting a bottle of water for me, and we all swung around to face her, scared she might have seen the ring.

“What’s wrong?” she asked us, suddenly feeling the strange tense atmosphere fill the room.

“Nothing,” Louis said suddenly.

“Something is wrong. I could tell when Lou was lying,” she said directly at me.

“Really, Lauren, everything’s fine,” Zayn said with a confident smile. She nodded hesitantly; still unsure of what was going on. He wasn’t wrong. Everything was quite perfect actually.

“Alright, here Ni,” she said tossing me my bottle of water. I caught it and smiled at her and took her in my arms. “Thank you,” I whispered planting a kiss to her lips, which I smiled into. I just couldn’t help being giddy, even though I was nervous as hell too.

“Ew, get a room!” Louis shouted and we all laughed.

“Actually, we do have reservations,” I said checking my watch.

“Right,” she said nodding, “My mom is here. I’m going to go get ready. Call me when you’re on your way okay?” she said to me and I just nodded. She was going home to spend some time with her family while we were out in Denver still while we stayed back and got ready to move to the next spot. I was going to pick her up from her house and take her to the special light house restaurant out here. It’s right by the lake. It’s beautiful. She said she used to love it as a kid.

“Yeah, he’ll give you a ring,” Louis said with a smirk. I turned around to give him a stern look to already see Liam hitting Lou in the gut.

“You had a bug on your shirt there, Lou. Don’t worry, I got it,” Liam said brushing off the spot on Lou’s t-shirt he had just hit.

“Hope you did,” I said sternly and I could see Harry smirking out of the corner of my eye.

“Okay, then,” Lauren said from behind us. I pecked her on the cheek for a quick goodbye before she was out the door. As soon as she was far enough away, Zayn and Harry bust out laughing and so did Louis.

“You are one cheeky bastard you know that Lou?”

“Oh calm down, Nialler! She didn’t suspect a thing.”

“Are you kidding? A blind man could have seen what you were talking about.”

“She’s way too gullible. Things go right over her head.” He said motioning with his hand hovering over his fluffy brown hair.

“That’s my girlfriend you’re talking about there,” I said pointing my finger at him. I wanted to say fiancé but I guess not yet.

“Correction, that’s my best friend I’m talking about. So, I think I reserved the right to make fun of her years ago.” That made me laugh because no one could ever stay mad at Louis.

“Whatever,” I said chuckling a bit, “but we need to get started on packing stuff up. I can’t be late tonight.” Harry smiled at me and I smiled back trying to hide my nerves. I wasn’t sure what she was going to say. We had only been together for about five months now. But, the thing is, I have known her for the past two years. I loved her and she loved me – as far as I knew anyway – no don’t do that to yourself, Ni. She loves you. Anyway, since we’ve known each other for two years, but we had always been so close. Almost as close as Louis and her I’d say, but not quite. Therefore, it felt like we had known one another for at least 5 years. Which is enough time for a proposal, right? Or does knowing each other as friends not count? Do those years before our relationship not count? Am I scaring her away? Oh shit, what if I do? What if she breaks up with me because I’m rushing things? These were all the thoughts running through my head whilst packing things up. I had started to panic and Liam grabbed me by my wrist and pulled me from my dreaded internal thoughts.

“Are you okay?” I just shook my head.

“It’s just nerves, mate. You’ll be fine,” he smiled at me but it wasn’t helping.

“It hasn’t been long enough.”

“What?”

“Our relationship, it hasn’t existed long enough. It’s been five months now, Li. She’s going to say it’s too soon. She’s going to tell me we need to slow down. Or maybe she’ll say we need a break. Or maybe-”

“- Niall, calm down,” he said carefully. By now, he had sat me down on a cardboard box outside the tour bus. The air was moist and a bit chilly but it was warm enough for a light long sleeved shirt like I was wearing. It was dark out and the reflection of the white full moon was bouncing off of the black pavement of the parking lot.

“No Liam! She’s going to tell me it’s too soon!” Zayn and Harry now had their attention on me from the drum set they were loading into the bus. They both rushed over to me and Liam put his hand on my shoulder, kneeling in front of me.

“Ni, you guys have been as close as Woody and Buzz for two years. You know each other inside and out; almost as much as Lou knows her.”

“The two years doesn’t count.”

“Why not” Zayn asked, his brows furrowed.

“Because we weren’t together then, that’s why not. I’m going to fuck everything up.”

“Niall, you’re going to be fine. I am 90.174% sure she’ll say yes,” Harry nodded with a smile, dimples displayed proudly. I just kept shaking my head no.

“Okay, look,” I heard Louis’ voice ring from behind the crowd of my friends around me. He pushed his way past Harry and patted Liam’s shoulder. He stepped back and Lou took his place in front of me.

“Okay, listen good Horan. Do you love her?”

“More than anything,” I said shaking my head. God damn it I hated being corny and cheesy with the boys but it was true.

“Good, now I know for a fact, that she loves you too. More than anything like you said. Now, she is not going to say no. And if she does, she won’t break up with you. She won’t ask for some space. She won’t even make it awkward. What Lauren is going to tell you is that she loves you and she doesn’t want to let you go. She’s going to tell you it may be too soon for marriage but she wants to marry you someday. She’ll tell you not to make yourself seem too eager, being the teasing little shit she likes to be – and I mean it with all the love in my heart – and then she’ll kiss you and smile at you and tell you not to lose that box and slip it back in your pocket. But, that won’t happen. She’ll smile down at you and nod her head yes and kiss you and tell you she loves you. Either way, you’re getting laid tonight dude.”

I nodded. He was right. About all of it, while I still wasn’t too sure about her answer, I knew we would be fine. I hoped I knew. I put on a smile for Lou who just patted my back.

“Good,” Zayn said, “Now let’s finish packing up so you can go on your date.” Everyone flashed me bright smiles and offered me pats on the shoulder and hugs. This was the best times to have the boys around. They can always help me through anything.

—

I pulled up to Lauren’s mom’s house around 8 pm that night in a suit and tie. Her parents had split up years ago after their youngest, Erin, was born. It was your average suburban house in a middle class subdivision. It had a basketball court in the center of the neighborhood which was just a little ways walk from her home. In her yard were two little trees growing on either side of the drive way. I slowly made my way to her front porch and knocked on the heavy blue door. I heard muffled shouts from inside the door and the shuffling of feet on stairs before the deadbolt was clicking unlocked and the door swung open to reveal Lauren’s mother. She had brown hair like Lauren’s but was tanner and had brown eyes instead. She was the same height as her and I remember Lauren telling me about how impressed everyone was that she was just as tall as her mom and she would always respond “It’s not that big of an accomplishment” which made me laugh. Her mother was a much laid back and sarcastic person.

“Hi Niall, come in,” she greeted me with a smile. I nodded my head giving her the same smile and stepped through the door. “Hello Mrs. Doyle,” I said before she gave me a quick hug and led me up the stairs. This house was a bi level house, meaning you had a small room by the front door and then you could either go up or down. There was nothing on this floor besides an old piano and a coat closet. I hustled up the stairs behind her mother. “Call me, Laurie,” she said smiling back at me. I nodded and turned to the couch and sat down.

“She should be ready in a few minutes,” she said taking a seat in the chair nearby.

Just then, Katie, one of Lauren’s younger sisters came running out of the hallway and in her mother’s face. Katie was about fourteen now. She had long dark brown hair and tan skin and brown eyes like her mother. I had met this family a couple years ago when they came out to visit her. They come out to London once in the spring for a week and once near the end of summer. Her father never came to visit her though. Only gave her calls and sent gifts in the mail.

“Hi, Katie,” I said softly. She glanced behind her and gave me a quick wave of her hand before returning her attention to her mom.

“Mom, Selena Gomez is going on tour this summer! Can we go? Please?”

Her mom just snorted and started laughing like the idea was completely and utterly ridiculous.

“Ughh…” she stormed off into her room down the hall.

“Sorry about that Ni,” she said muting the telle and turning towards me.

“It’s fine. But I actually am glad I have some time to talk to you,” I said quite nervously.

“About?”

“Um, well,” I got up from the couch and sat down on the giant foot rest by her feet. I reached into the right inside pocket and pulled out the fuzzy blue box and flashed the ring to her.

“Niall,” she gasped. I looked up at her nervously hoping she wouldn’t ask me not to.

“Is it too soon?”

“No,” she said gazing at the diamond. “No, she’ll love it.” I nodded and felt a bit more reassured.

“You can go down there if you’d like,” she said unmuting her program. I nodded and she smiled at me. I headed for the stairs – Lauren’s room was kept in the basement – when her mother reached out and grabbed my wrist.

“Take care of her, Niall. Otherwise, I might have to send one of Lauren’s friends to beat you up. You remember Nate when she was in the hospital right?”

I nodded. Yes, I remember him quite well. She smiled up at me and let go of my wrist and I darted down the stairs. I walked down the narrow wooden floored hallway to her door and knocked twice. “Erin I told you to go away! You cannot date him!” I chuckled and I heard her laugh to before she swung open the door.

“I don’t know. Erin seems like a nice girl. Way nicer than you are,” I said poking her nose. She smiled up at me and hit my shoulder. “Shut up and help me with this necklace.” She turned around and I snapped the necklace around her neck.

“You still wear this?” I ask her clipping the necklace I had bought her for our first date.

“There has been very few days where I haven’t,” she said turning and smiling at me. I smiled back and wrapped arms around her waist, her hands resting on either side of my chest.

“Really?”

“Really, really,” she responded. I smiled and pressed a kiss to her lips which she gladly returned. When pulling away, I took a glance around her room a bit.

“You slept with your bed on the floor?” I asked her pointing to the mattress that was laid across the floor.

“Well, it has a box spring underneath it,” she defended, “I liked it a lot better than my dumb bed frame I used to have.”

“And the cabinet with the princess castle on it?” I laughed and she just hit me.

“Shut up, it was a hand-me-up from my sister. It held all my stuff didn’t it?”

I shrugged. I guess she was right. I liked how she was just about the simplicity of things. As long as it did its job, it was perfect. I turned to her then and took her hand in mine.

“You look gorgeous,” I commented making her blush my favorite shade of pink. She had a knee length crème/white colored dress on with black lining and black heels.

(Lauren’s Outfit: http://www.polyvore.com/omg/set?id=81131714)

“You don’t look too shabby yourself,” she said pulling at my tie. She pressed her lips to mine and slipped her tongue between my lips. My hands wandered her body as her fingers tangled into my hair.

“You know,” she said in between kisses, “we could…just stay here…and…and have a…little fun.”

As badly as I wanted to say yes I gripped her hips and scooted her back a couple inches.

“No, no we really can’t.”

“Why not?”

“I…uh…I made reservations. Plus, your mom told me this was a great place and I really wanted to see it.” She rolled her eyes but took my hand and headed down the hallway together.

“Bye guys!” she shouted up the stairs.

“Have fun!” her mom shouted back.

“Wait!!” a little squeaky voice cried from down the hallway upstairs.

“Oh god,” Lauren muttered, “run. Run now!” she giggled and yanked me out the door before Erin could reach us. She hopped into the passenger’s seat and urged me to turn the key in the ignition. Soon, we quickly pulled out of the driveway and sped down the road.

—

“I’m cold,” she said as we sat down at our seats, “can I have your jacket?” I nodded and shrugged it off but stopped abruptly when I felt the little box bounce off of my stomach underneath the fabric of the pocket.

“No, no you can’t. I’m cold too,” I said pulling it back on. She rolled her eyes but just smiled at me and shook her head.

“Sorry,” I muttered and she nodded.

—

Dinner was fantastic. Her family was right about the restaurant. We had ordered a bottle of champagne to go and we made our way to the beach that the lighthouse restaurant sat on. I pulled a blanket from the car and laid it down. We popped open the bottle of champagne and poured two glasses for ourselves.

“To…us,” she toasted raising her glass in the air. I repeated her and clinked my glass against hers and we both took a swig.

“To us,” I said looking out at the clear blue water. The reflection of the moon was now bouncing of the low waves of the water. It was quite beautiful.

Oh god. I still have the ring. I haven’t even done it yet. How do I propose? How does that even work?

I took her hands in mine and pushed her onto her back. I straddled her while she was laughing and placed kisses up her arm, her neck, her jaw, until finally I had reached her lips.

“I love you, Lauren,” I whispered.

“I love you too.”

“Good, will you love me forever?”

“I think I just might.”

“Then,” I said fumbling around my pocket. Here goes nothing. No, not nothing. Everything actually.

“Then, I suppose we might as well make that eternal love…official, right?” I said holding the ring above her face. She sat up immediately and I sat back on my arse on the blanket. I don’t know how I feel about her reaction yet.

“Is that a…are you?”

“Yeah, and I get it if it’s too soon, Laur. I just love you. I love everything about you. The day we helped that little girl in Chuckie Cheese, it made me realize how nice it would be to have our own little girl getting lost in Chuckie Cheese. Or no, maybe it wouldn’t be so nice but the little girl part would. And when I saw him kiss you, I hated it obviously. But, I just thought about how I never ever wanted to let another man kiss you like that. I love you. I love you and I love your…everything. I don’t know Lauren. I just really, really, really, really love you and I want you by my side or in my arms for the rest of my life.”

“I knew you were going to do that,” she said giggling.

“What?”

“C’mon, when Louis said you’ll give me a ring and everyone got upset with him, it wasn’t hard to figure out. Louis’ jokes are always blunt and obvious, unlike Harry’s.”

“Shit,” I muttered, “I’m sorry. This wasn’t all that romantic or perfect then.”

“Are you kidding?” she asked me planting another kiss to my lips. “That was perfect. I could and wouldn’t want anyone else to propose to me, especially like that.”

“So that’s a yes?”

“I suppose it is,” she smiled at me. I felt my heart stop but in the best way possible and I pounced on her and grabbed her waist and pressed kisses all over her face and lifted her up and spun her around.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said setting her down in the sand, “I have to do this properly. I took the ring and set it between my fingers and knelt down on one knee in front of her.

“Lauren Doyle, would you do me the absolute greatest honor of marrying me?” she nodded her head yes, and I saw a bit of tears welling up in her eyes and I smiled. I slid the ring onto her right ring finger and stood up and continued kissing her and lifting her up and holding her close. We laughed and giggled and played and messed around until we both crashed on the beach in one another’s arms, listening to her Ed Sheeran Pandora station.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought about getting rid of this writing a lot time ago because it's really carroty and too cliche but it is my first one and it has a lot of memories so i'm choosing to try and take pride in it


End file.
